Hogwarts: A Home
by hallabong
Summary: Rumours are going around. Hogwarts is alive, can hear your thoughts and listen to your conversations and can make wishes come true. There's a rumour going around that James and Lily aren't fighting and are friends again; that's always true. There's a rumour about Remus. Then there's a rumour that Sirius Black is now celibate... I really hope that one isn't true. L/J SB/OC R/OC
1. Pillow War!

**So, I've been wanting to write a Harry Potter fic for years... so I thought why not? (JK owns HP).**

_**Chapter One;**_

_**"I went to the woods because I wished to live **_**_deliberately," - Henry David Thoreau_**

There was a small, dirty-blonde haired girl standing by the barrier of platforms nine and ten, looking slightly troubled as she glanced from left to right at the crowds of busy people pushing past one another. The girl shook her head and placed a hand on the barrier, glaring at it.

"Is this some sort of joke?" She asked the wall, folding her arms in an aggravated manner. "I want to go to Hogwarts!" She knocked on the wall, as if it was a door to the wizarding world. "H-O-G-W-A-R-T-S. Can anyone hear me?"

"The wall isn't going to answer you," Came an amused voice suddenly from behind her. The girl turned at once, blushing furiously as she noticed a boy with unruly black hair smiling down at her, with a man and a woman- the boy's parents, she gathered, at his side. The boy had a trunk that was similar to her own, albeit the boy's was a lot glossier and newer and he also had an owl cage that held the most beautiful brown owl she had ever seen.

"Where are your parents, sweetie?" The lady asked with a kind smile. The girl instantly liked her.

"They've already gone through with my two brothers…"

"James, dear, why don't you help the girl to pass through the barrier?" The boy's mother asked happily, obviously delighted at the chance of seeing her son socialise with a girl. The boy, James, scowled but, relentlessly, grabbed hold of the girls hand and moved her so that they were facing the barrier. She stared, alarmed, as the boy started to walk faster and faster towards the wall, dragging her along with him.

"Are you mad?!" She screeched. She closed her eyes, ready to feel the painful impact of the wall crashing into her. But when the impact never came, she opened her eyes and gasped.

"It's beautiful." She said. She was staring, gobsmacked, at an enormous train that almost twinkled if one stared at it for too long. Around them, students were chatting excitedly to one another and their parents.

"It's just the Hogwarts Express." James shrugged. "Have you never - " He couldn't finish his question as his parents came into view.

"Where are your parents?" James' mother asked, looking through the crowds for anyone who looked related to the small girl.

"They said they were going to leave straight away with Gabe, Caleb's probably already on board."

"Oh…" James' mother looked at her sadly for a second. "We'll help you put your cases away." Soon enough their trunks were stored and the boy's parents hugged their son.

"Make sure you two sit together," The boy's dad called out when they both entered the train "It's very handy to have that first friend you make!"

The girl followed James, slightly in awe at the fact that the train was bigger than she could have ever imagined. The aisles were bustling with so many students, a lot of them hugging each other and asking how their summers had been. The boy stopped soon enough at an empty compartment and the train suddenly lurched forward, Hogwarts bound.

"Why were you talking to the barrier?" James asked when they had both settled down.

"Um," The girl blushed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "My brother said that was the way to get into the station." Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment.

As she had guessed, James chuckled. "So you've lived with magic then?"

She nodded. "Both my parents came to Hogwarts but my mum was a muggle…" She said, not knowing how James would react to that. "We knew of magic… but mum and dad didn't tell us much about Hogwarts; said we had to find out for ourselves and have no one help us out. They said it would be better that way, that when we finally arrived at Hogwarts we could find things out for ourselves and make our own destinies. And then Caleb got his letter first, he got into Clawraven was it? Oh! Ravenclaw, like my mum and dad. And I tried to ask Caleb about Hogwarts, but he didn't say much… Then this morning he said if you speak to the barrier in the middle of platforms nine and ten… it'd open up and take you to Hogwarts." She was mumbling quietly now, knowing how stupid she must have sounded.

James couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not bad, is it?" She asked, staring out of the window at the fields that flashed by. "That my mum's muggleborn?"

"Course not," James smiled. He extended out his hand. "James Potter, at your service."

"Evelyn Acres at yours." She smiled, glad that she had made a friend. No sooner had the two introduced themselves that there was a loud bang from outside, followed by angry voices.

"You better watch where you're going!" A threatening voice boomed out. The two of them shared a worried look and suddenly ran from their seats to peek through the door. A tall and broody looking boy, surely in his teens at least, was gripping the collar of a small and petrified boy, his blue watery eyes shaking in fear as he mumbled out an apology and a squeaky 'I wasn't looking where I was going!'.

There were two witnesses; one girl, whom Evelyn instantly disliked, who was laughing and cackling and persuading the taller boy to take out his wand. The other was a young, black haired boy with dazzling grey eyes. Evelyn gulped as she felt her heart beat faster and faster. This boy was different from the other two, despite looking distantly related to the gleeful and sadistic girl.

"Come on Nott, stop it now." The grey eyed boy said, his tone hard and full of edge. "He's said sorry already."

"I'm gonna go and help." James whispered. He ignored Evelyn as she tried to grab his arm and pull him back to his seat. He opened up the compartment door with a bang and Evelyn ran back to the window. Her heart was racing as she listened to the commotion outside.

"Leave him alone!" James hollered. He walked towards Nott and glared up at him.

Nott just laughed, his actions followed almost immediately by the girl with the boisterous, curly locks. "You first years are so ridiculous. What has come of Hogwarts, that they now allow cowards and jesters?"

James and the blue eyed boy suddenly growled at Nott's accusations and suddenly everything happened so fast, like thunder and lightning. The blue eyed boy bit Nott's hand and Nott howled from the impact. The grey eyed boy then suddenly pushed Nott forcefully down the corridor, watching as he bashed into a compartment and James sent a hex towards Nott at the same time.

"You'll pay for that, Sirius." The girl glared and got out her wand, ready.

"It's three against one now," The blue eyed boy said with a tremble in his voice.

"Yeah," James laughed, although his wand hand was shaking. "The wisest thing to do now would be to walk away. And if you don't, then my friend in our compartment would come out too." James gulped. "You wouldn't want to mess with her, she's got the attitude of a fire breathing dragon and has already killed several trolls! And she's so brave she would equal to two people! Then it'd be _five _against one."

What the heck was James saying?! Evelyn shook her head, she'd never done those things. And she probably never would.

Then there was silence. She wondered what could have happened; did the girl kill all three of them? Did the three boys kill the girl? She crept up towards the door, which suddenly opened violently. She felt a person crash into her and opened her eyes in amazement.

"Hi," Her heart couldn't stop beating. The grey eyed boy smiled down at her and held out his hand to help her up. "I'm Sirius."

Later, Evelyn had excused herself to the bathroom. The four of them had been chatting for an hour now and she could still feel her heart beating whenever Sirius Black talked, blinked, moved or even breathed. James, Sirius and the other boy, Peter, had been chatting about what they knew of Hogwarts. Evelyn had listened to them all in great detail, but the talk was beginning to frighten her as she realised, again, how little she knew compared to everyone else. She made a mental note to find Caleb later on and tell him off for not helping his little sister.

There was a red haired girl waiting by the toilets; she was pacing up and down the aisle, muttering to herself and sniffling to herself. "Come on, Lily. Keep it together. Stop acting like a baby." There was no one else around and Evelyn didn't really know where the next available toilet was, so she cleared her throat quietly.

"Oh. Sorry." The girl blubbered, wiping her eyes quickly.

"Are you okay?"

The two girls stood by the toilets and chatted for what seemed hours. Her name was Lily Evans, she was muggle born but had already read 'Hogwarts: A History' and was extremely excited to be sorted into a house.

"But… I'm really missing home and my mum and dad." Lily sniffled and crossed her arms against her chest. "And my sister thinks that I'm a freak for getting a letter and coming here."

Evelyn decided she really liked Lily Evans, and invited her back to the compartment. The boys stopped talking loudly upon their arrival.

"Who's this?" James asked loudly, smiling as Lily entered the compartment.

"This is Lily Evans, my new friend." Evelyn said as Lily gave a shy wave. "That rude boy there is James Potter, but he's actually really lovely and friendly when you get to know him. His owl's called Nike and she's such a darling." James gave a bow. "That's Peter Pettigrew, he's really brave and bit this fourth year's hand!" Peter smiled and waved. "And that's…" She sucked in a breath, Sirius looking expectantly at her with an eyebrow raised. She coughed. "Err… that's Sirius Black… he's a uh… He's nice."

Sirius waved. "Yep that's me. Sirius, _The Nice_." He winked at Evelyn who blushed furiously, wishing she had said something a lot more cooler.

When the train finally haltered to a stop at Hogsmeade Station there was a crack of thunder as rain started to plummet down from the heavens. The big giant at the front of the station, however, seemed to enjoy the rain and eagerly called out that all first years followed him.

"Me name's Hagrid, keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, If everyone wants t' get in a boat. Four a boat! Then we'll be off ter Hogwarts!"

James and Lily suddenly grabbed hold of Evelyn's hands and dragged her towards a boat. James got in first, Evelyn second and Lily followed behind, trembling. Peter had gotten into a boat with a boy who had incredibly large ears, but still looked rather dashing and a snooty boy with platinum blond hair.

Evelyn looked around the docks, in the hopes of seeing Sirius. She hadn't expected to lock gaze with him, however, resulting in him to suddenly make his way over.

"Oh merlin," She muttered, turning her head away as a blush crept to her cheeks. The boat sunk a little, indicating the fourth and final person had come onto the boat.

"I'm Amos Diggory!" A happy chap said, his short brown hair looking very gelled to his scalp.

As soon as every student was sat in a boat, Hagrid flashed his lantern and suddenly the boats began to sail across the waters, passing a huge archway, countless bridges and across a ruined fortress.

"There are things in the water!" Someone shouted abruptly. There were strange green and blue figures, swimming across the boats and under them and then off into the swift sunset ahead.

And then they saw it. Right in front of the setting sun was the biggest castle Evelyn had ever laid eyes upon (first a magical train station, then the biggest train ever, James' beautiful owl, Sirius being the most handsomest boy ever…) and now Hogwarts. But Hogwarts was just… magnificent.

"Bloody hell." James gasped behind her. "Ev… look at it!" She grinned and caught James' eye. This was going to be a fantastic year.

Once they were at the docks again, a teacher with a pointy look about her lead them all into the castle.

"I'm Professor McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration and I am also the Head of Gryffindor house." She announced proudly, smiling slightly at all the students in front of her. "You will make your way to the front of the great hall where you will be all sorted into your house. I will return momentarily."

There was a murmur as the professor left; there was a sorting?

"My brother said we have to fight off a dementor!" An Irish boy with blond hair said with a shiver.

"Hey, Evelyn!" James came up beside her with a boy she had never seen before. He looked shy and worried, he gulped and messed with his sandy hair. "This is Remus Lupin, he's my friend." She smiled at James, the boy was so kind to everyone. Well, people who deserved it anyways.

"Hi," Remus said.

"Do you have any idea what's awaiting us in there?" She asked, nodding her head towards the large closed doors. Remus shook his head.

"I don't think it's a test though, I think it's more about who we are. You know, on the inside." Evelyn decided she liked Remus a lot too, adding his name to her mental friends list.

The doors opened and they were all lead into the Great Hall, four great long tables full of expectant students watched the newcomers.

"I'll call out your name alphabetically."

"Shit, Ev… that means…" James looked at her in horror and quickly squeezed her hand as her name was called and she tripped towards the stool.

The professor smiled at her and murmured 'no need to be worried.' And then placed a hat onto her head.

_I remember your parents when they were sorted, yes. Full of academic spirit they were, had the knack to make it well in Ravenclaw. Your brother was right to be placed in Ravenclaw too. You however… There's a great urge to show how much you're worth. What you're made out of. Huge amount of bravery in you, hidden away inside… But I know you'll find it eventually. You value friendships greatly and I know that you'd do anything to protect them, even though you've only just met them. You think yourself worthless with no talent, but I can guarantee you that you will soon find many great things. In that case, you better be in..."_GRYFFINDOR!"

**** (Fith Year) ****

_Evelyn_

"Evelyn!" Sirius Black, in all his sexiness, shouted out my name as he entered the Hogwarts Kitchens. His eyes were wide and he tried to catch his breath as he strode swiftly towards me; his cloak whooshing around him as if he were a Prince on horseback, the wind on his face, as he looked over his vast empire.

"Evelyn," He breathed again, now taking my hand into his. I was shaking, looking up into his eyes. Was this real? Was Sirius Black actually holding my hand and calling my name? I sucked in a deep breath and stared into his dreamy grey eyes.

He smiled and I hastily followed his action. "I've been looking for you everywhere! I really need you." He pulled my arm slowly and instantly my feet followed.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; Sirius Black, my one and only crush, needed _me_? He had been looking for ME! I didn't know what to say, 'I love you too' or 'Yes, I will marry you'. He opened his mouth again and said- "Lily and James are fighting again." My grin disappeared, along with the hopes of me and Sirius ever getting together as a couple.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded and shrugged his broad shoulders, sending me a smile as he held the door open for me, bowing as I went through. "Lily looked like she was about to cry, so I thought some 'girl talk' might make her okay again."

"Oh…" I tried to hide my disappointment and allowed him to pull me through the corridor. As we walked through the castle, making our way to the Gryffindor common room where the fight was taking place, Sirius described to me what had happened this time round, and we both laughed together about how immature they were together.

Lily had lost some books and demanded James gave them her back, under the impression that the boy had stolen them as a foolish prank. "I can't really recall the entire story," Sirius admitted with a sheepish smile. "They were just throwing insults back and forth suddenly and I thought it was getting kinda outa hand. I mean, I'd only come back to the common room myself to get my robes since I'd mucked them up in Potions yesterday with that stupid wart draft."

"You don't want to go in there." The fat lady warned as we stood in front of the portrait.

"That bad, is it?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. It was only lunch time; most students hadn't even finished eating in the Great Hall.

"They're fine," Sirius said relentlessly, taking out his wand, "Just in case." He said with a lopsided grin. "_Noble_." The portrait opened, and we came face to face with the common room in utter ruins.

Sirius I and were silent for a moment, watching together in horror at what we were seeing. "What the bloody hell are you both doing?" I couldn't help but laugh.

There were feathers everywhere; there were a few books were scattered on the floor and on the sofa, with Lily and James standing by the fireplace, pillows in their hands. They were hitting each other with these pillows and every time the other got a shot, feathers would erupt from their pillow and would hit them in the face.

"Stop laughing," they both snapped at us when they realised they had an audience.

"James, you have feathers in your hair." Sirius said with a smile and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I tried to hide my blush.

"I searched far and wide to find Evelyn, thinking I'd need backup to hex one of you, and then we find you both having a _pillow fight_?!"

"This is not a pillow fight!" James said haughtily, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "This is a war!" He whacked the pillow against Lily's head, causing a flurry of feathers to blur her vision momentarily. She screamed in aggravation and pulled out her wand, sending a bogey hex to the stunned James. I cheered her on.

The common room opened and, thinking it was McGonagall, Lily and James stopped immediately.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Remus was speechless, dropping his Charms book on the floor at the destroyed common room. "Break it up now, you two! For merlin's sake, you guys aren't in first year anymore!" He pulled out his wand and bounded them both to the sofa.

"You're both fifteen years old! The year's only just started and you two are already bickering like an old married couple!" Remus paced up and down the sofas, sending the two of them glares as he continued scolding. Sirius and I snickered together quietly.

Ten minutes later, after his scolding had come to an end, Remus let the two of them go, Lily ran straight to the dorms without looking back.

"Told you she looked like she was going to cry." Sirius said once we heard the door slam.

"For the hundredth time, Ev... I'm fine." Lily glowered, shooing me away as she brushed her teeth.

"Sirius thought you seemed pretty upset. What did James say this time? You know you shouldn't take what he says seriously..."

"But that's the thing! He infuriates me! He's really nice to me one day; acting all nice and friendly. And then the next he's rude and arrogant! He's ALWAYS nice to you, Ev! He hates me! And yes, fine: I accused him of stealing my book, but he's done it on so many countless occasions that I just automatically assumed he had!"

Lily and James were either friends or enemies. Alice, Vicky and I liked to call them 'frenemies'. It had been like that ever since our first Charms lesson (which was our first ever EVER lesson). They'd been friends before it and then James and Lily had argued about the pronunciation of 'wingardium leviosa'... and then had become enemies until dinner time. During the first feast James had let Lily have the last slice of chocolate pie, resulting in them being friends again. See my point?

"He doesn't hate you." I rolled my eyes. "You're his friend."

"And being James Potter's friend," Vicky said as she came out from the bathroom. "Is good. He has loads of fit guy friends, and most of them are on the Quidditch teams."

"Vicky has an excellent point!" I clapped, giving Lily a nudge and a wink. "We're all adults now... well sorta. It's time to see what the male population at this school think! Especially you, Lily, and Vicky. You're both gorgeous."

I tried to hide the envy in my voice; they already got a lot of notice from boys. But we were all still waiting for our 'magical first kiss' moment, so I didn't feel too much like a failure.

"Isn't there a Quidditch try out this weekend? We should definitely go and watch it."

"Yeah," I said with a nod, agreeing with Vicky. "Gabe is going to try out this year as seeker, so I need to be there anyways to cheer him on." Gabriel, my brother who was a year younger than me, had joined me in Gryffindor, which I was most pleased about.

"Don't forget though we have History Of Magic tomorrow; Binns wants us there early because there's that test." Lily reminded us.

"How does Binns not die of boredom every day? How hasn't he already? He's been working here for like fifty years and yet the Goblin Wars are still as boring and uninteresting as ever. I swear one of these days that man will probably die in a classroom and it will be the most epic lesson ever." I hated that class, more so because Sirius was right in front of me and James was sat next to me. So that meant Sirius was **always **turning around to talk to James and I'd be there... having to look at that gorgeous face, not that I minded.

One dreamless sleep after and it was 7 am and the four of us made our way towards the Great Hall. Nike came flying down as I was buttering my morning toast, she, like all the other owls, carried the newspapers and parcels and letters that were sent to the students daily. I stroked her head and she plopped the mail in front of me, seeing as James wasn't down yet.

"Help yourself to some toast and milk." I said to her and she hooted happily. There was a letter for James and the newspaper.

"I swear," James said with a grunt as he and his friends plopped beside us. "That bird likes you more than me!" He called Nike over and fed her a bit of sausage.

"It's because she knows I'm lonely." I cooed at the owl which made Sirius snort.

James opened up his letter and then tossed the letter to me.

During my first year here the Potters had sent me letters full of wishes and hopes that I would enjoy the year and that during the summer I was welcome to come to the Potter's any time for tea. They were so kind and thoughtful and treated me like a daughter. I smiled as I read their letter, they hoped we had a good year and that James should try and injure the 7th year Gryffindor Quidditch Captain so that he could take up the title.

A short while after there was a murmur through the students as they glanced towards the teachers table; Professor Binns was nowhere to be seen.

Dumbledore stood up and hit his fork against his goblet, the large ringing sound made everyone suddenly quiet. "I regret to inform everyone... that..." He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Professor Binns passed away during the night."

My mouth gaped open, not believing what I was hearing.

"There will, however, still be History Of Magic classes. That is all." Dumbledore sat down, looking a lot happier than he should have been, seeing as one of his colleagues had just died.

My mind wandered back to yesterday, about what I had said. "Oh my God." I dropped my toast on Nike, she hooted angrily and flew away.

"Yeah..." James whistled lowly, all of us not knowing what to say.

"He was a fine professor..." Sirius said grimly, not two seconds had passed when Remus let out a chuckle. Alarmed, he had tried to hide it, but he couldn't help himself and was soon shaking with laughter.

"He was the worst teacher ever." Remus suddenly wheezed out behind his sleeve, tears of laughter running down his face.

So, we're not exactly the best students it would seem... needless to say, the topic passed.

I told the boys what I had said last night, trying not to look at Remus who was still trying to contain his giggles. One look at him would set us all off laughing again.

"You killed Binns!" Sirius gasped, throwing a tea bag at me in mock horror. "_How could you. _And to such an amazing senior!"

"You know," Remus was able to talk now as he swigged down some orange juice. "There are legends that say the halls and walls of Hogwarts are alive... And that they're always listening in on every conversation, at every second. Each and every conversation that has been uttered by students flow between the walls; even the past conversations and the present and the future. And they say that sometimes Hogwarts is so magical that when they hear your thoughts and wishes... it comes true."

It was such a drastic change in conversation, laughing about a dead professor and then suddenly onto the creepy history of the castle. We all looked at Remus, unable to say anything.

"As if," Frank said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon us all. "That's what Peeves would probably say to a first year to try and scare them off." The conversation changed again as one does, but for me Remus' words haunted me as we made our way towards History Of Magic... did Hogwarts really do that? Could it hear me, right now? Had it heard me wish about Sirius Black? (And if so; why hadn't it granted me the wish of having Sirius Black instead of killing our boring History teacher?)

Like normal, I sat next to James and Sirius and Remus sat in front of us. Lily and Vicky sat on one side and Alice and Frank on the other. Peter sat on the desk behind with a Hufflepuff he had a crush on. We were all talking, wondering about who would be our teacher when we felt the presence of a ghost come into the room. Some immediately put books over their heads, expecting it to be Peeves who was about to drop an unexpected dungbomb on us all. But then we heard the voice of someone familiar.

"Glad to see you are all here, ready to take the short test. It's about the Goblin Wars from 1066 - 1096. Answers that come back wrong will be discussed later on in the lesson." Binns was gliding down the classroom, as a _ghost. _He was so engrossed in his monologue about the great Goblin King Tritan to see our amused and shocked faces.

"Professor," One Hufflepuff girl asked with a gasp. "What happened? Are you alright, Sir?"

"Perfect!" The ghost said with a smile. He placed down his book at his desk. "Better, in fact." He circled through the air and passed through the wall like a dodgem, we could hear him gleefully hollering through the walls and then he suddenly returned. "I've always wanted to be a ghost. Now I can teach History forever!"

No one had ever seen Binns so lively, and it was unbearably ironic how he was now a ghost and so full of energy! Remus was giggling again, followed by the majority of the class. But Binns took no notice, he picked up his book again and finished his long drawl and then passed around the tests.

"Looks like we should all be careful about what we say then," Lily said with a grin as we stepped out of the classroom an hour and a half later. Sirius stretched his arms and groaned at his (and I quote) 'sore arse'. "Maybe Hogwarts is becoming alive and it'll hear things more often. We'd better be careful we don't wish for things that are bad."

Sirius stopped for a second and grabbed my hand. My heart thumped and it missed a beat as his thumb danced against my fingers. My stomach fluttered.

"You know what I wish?" He murmured, staring up at the vast staircases that were moving and carrying various students and ghosts.

I shrugged, wanting to know what he would wish for so much.

"For..." He breathed out and stared at me, I was unable to look away as he smiled. "Chocolate pizza."

His hand left mine and he looked around the corridor. No sign of a chocolate pizza. He sighed and called out after Remus. "Were you lying? The walls didn't hear a thing!"

**Author's note:**

**Sorry if this first chapter was so long... I didn't know when to finish it, but I think this turned out well! Here's hoping that many of you enjoy this fic, just as I will enjoy writing it! If you liked it, leave a comment and see you in a few days maybe for the next chapter! Mucho love! (And I know there's always the curse of the first chapter; firsties are always so boring and uneventful so, please, bear with me.**


	2. Meet Eddie

**So, I've been wanting to write a Harry Potter fic for years... so I thought why not? (JK owns HP).**

_**Chapter One;**_

_**"I went to the woods because I wished to live **_**_deliberately," - Henry David Thoreau_**

There was a small, dirty-blonde haired girl standing by the barrier of platforms nine and ten, looking slightly troubled as she glanced from left to right at the crowds of busy people pushing past one another. The girl shook her head and placed a hand on the barrier, glaring at it.

"Is this some sort of joke?" She asked the wall, folding her arms in an aggravated manner. "I want to go to Hogwarts!" She knocked on the wall, as if it was a door to the wizarding world. "H-O-G-W-A-R-T-S. Can anyone hear me?"

"The wall isn't going to answer you," Came an amused voice suddenly from behind her. The girl turned at once, blushing furiously as she noticed a boy with unruly black hair smiling down at her, with a man and a woman- the boy's parents, she gathered, at his side. The boy had a trunk that was similar to her own, albeit the boy's was a lot glossier and newer and he also had an owl cage that held the most beautiful brown owl she had ever seen.

"Where are your parents, sweetie?" The lady asked with a kind smile. The girl instantly liked her.

"They've already gone through with my two brothers…"

"James, dear, why don't you help the girl to pass through the barrier?" The boy's mother asked happily, obviously delighted at the chance of seeing her son socialise with a girl. The boy, James, scowled but, relentlessly, grabbed hold of the girls hand and moved her so that they were facing the barrier. She stared, alarmed, as the boy started to walk faster and faster towards the wall, dragging her along with him.

"Are you mad?!" She screeched. She closed her eyes, ready to feel the painful impact of the wall crashing into her. But when the impact never came, she opened her eyes and gasped.

"It's beautiful." She said. She was staring, gobsmacked, at an enormous train that almost twinkled if one stared at it for too long. Around them, students were chatting excitedly to one another and their parents.

"It's just the Hogwarts Express." James shrugged. "Have you never - " He couldn't finish his question as his parents came into view.

"Where are your parents?" James' mother asked, looking through the crowds for anyone who looked related to the small girl.

"They said they were going to leave straight away with Gabe, Caleb's probably already on board."

"Oh…" James' mother looked at her sadly for a second. "We'll help you put your cases away." Soon enough their trunks were stored and the boy's parents hugged their son.

"Make sure you two sit together," The boy's dad called out when they both entered the train "It's very handy to have that first friend you make!"

The girl followed James, slightly in awe at the fact that the train was bigger than she could have ever imagined. The aisles were bustling with so many students, a lot of them hugging each other and asking how their summers had been. The boy stopped soon enough at an empty compartment and the train suddenly lurched forward, Hogwarts bound.

"Why were you talking to the barrier?" James asked when they had both settled down.

"Um," The girl blushed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "My brother said that was the way to get into the station." Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment.

As she had guessed, James chuckled. "So you've lived with magic then?"

She nodded. "Both my parents came to Hogwarts but my mum was a muggle…" She said, not knowing how James would react to that. "We knew of magic… but mum and dad didn't tell us much about Hogwarts; said we had to find out for ourselves and have no one help us out. They said it would be better that way, that when we finally arrived at Hogwarts we could find things out for ourselves and make our own destinies. And then Caleb got his letter first, he got into Clawraven was it? Oh! Ravenclaw, like my mum and dad. And I tried to ask Caleb about Hogwarts, but he didn't say much… Then this morning he said if you speak to the barrier in the middle of platforms nine and ten… it'd open up and take you to Hogwarts." She was mumbling quietly now, knowing how stupid she must have sounded.

James couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not bad, is it?" She asked, staring out of the window at the fields that flashed by. "That my mum's muggleborn?"

"Course not," James smiled. He extended out his hand. "James Potter, at your service."

"Evelyn Acres at yours." She smiled, glad that she had made a friend. No sooner had the two introduced themselves that there was a loud bang from outside, followed by angry voices.

"You better watch where you're going!" A threatening voice boomed out. The two of them shared a worried look and suddenly ran from their seats to peek through the door. A tall and broody looking boy, surely in his teens at least, was gripping the collar of a small and petrified boy, his blue watery eyes shaking in fear as he mumbled out an apology and a squeaky 'I wasn't looking where I was going!'.

There were two witnesses; one girl, whom Evelyn instantly disliked, who was laughing and cackling and persuading the taller boy to take out his wand. The other was a young, black haired boy with dazzling grey eyes. Evelyn gulped as she felt her heart beat faster and faster. This boy was different from the other two, despite looking distantly related to the gleeful and sadistic girl.

"Come on Nott, stop it now." The grey eyed boy said, his tone hard and full of edge. "He's said sorry already."

"I'm gonna go and help." James whispered. He ignored Evelyn as she tried to grab his arm and pull him back to his seat. He opened up the compartment door with a bang and Evelyn ran back to the window. Her heart was racing as she listened to the commotion outside.

"Leave him alone!" James hollered. He walked towards Nott and glared up at him.

Nott just laughed, his actions followed almost immediately by the girl with the boisterous, curly locks. "You first years are so ridiculous. What has come of Hogwarts, that they now allow cowards and jesters?"

James and the blue eyed boy suddenly growled at Nott's accusations and suddenly everything happened so fast, like thunder and lightning. The blue eyed boy bit Nott's hand and Nott howled from the impact. The grey eyed boy then suddenly pushed Nott forcefully down the corridor, watching as he bashed into a compartment and James sent a hex towards Nott at the same time.

"You'll pay for that, Sirius." The girl glared and got out her wand, ready.

"It's three against one now," The blue eyed boy said with a tremble in his voice.

"Yeah," James laughed, although his wand hand was shaking. "The wisest thing to do now would be to walk away. And if you don't, then my friend in our compartment would come out too." James gulped. "You wouldn't want to mess with her, she's got the attitude of a fire breathing dragon and has already killed several trolls! And she's so brave she would equal to two people! Then it'd be _five _against one."

What the heck was James saying?! Evelyn shook her head, she'd never done those things. And she probably never would.

Then there was silence. She wondered what could have happened; did the girl kill all three of them? Did the three boys kill the girl? She crept up towards the door, which suddenly opened violently. She felt a person crash into her and opened her eyes in amazement.

"Hi," Her heart couldn't stop beating. The grey eyed boy smiled down at her and held out his hand to help her up. "I'm Sirius."

Later, Evelyn had excused herself to the bathroom. The four of them had been chatting for an hour now and she could still feel her heart beating whenever Sirius Black talked, blinked, moved or even breathed. James, Sirius and the other boy, Peter, had been chatting about what they knew of Hogwarts. Evelyn had listened to them all in great detail, but the talk was beginning to frighten her as she realised, again, how little she knew compared to everyone else. She made a mental note to find Caleb later on and tell him off for not helping his little sister.

There was a red haired girl waiting by the toilets; she was pacing up and down the aisle, muttering to herself and sniffling to herself. "Come on, Lily. Keep it together. Stop acting like a baby." There was no one else around and Evelyn didn't really know where the next available toilet was, so she cleared her throat quietly.

"Oh. Sorry." The girl blubbered, wiping her eyes quickly.

"Are you okay?"

The two girls stood by the toilets and chatted for what seemed hours. Her name was Lily Evans, she was muggle born but had already read 'Hogwarts: A History' and was extremely excited to be sorted into a house.

"But… I'm really missing home and my mum and dad." Lily sniffled and crossed her arms against her chest. "And my sister thinks that I'm a freak for getting a letter and coming here."

Evelyn decided she really liked Lily Evans, and invited her back to the compartment. The boys stopped talking loudly upon their arrival.

"Who's this?" James asked loudly, smiling as Lily entered the compartment.

"This is Lily Evans, my new friend." Evelyn said as Lily gave a shy wave. "That rude boy there is James Potter, but he's actually really lovely and friendly when you get to know him. His owl's called Nike and she's such a darling." James gave a bow. "That's Peter Pettigrew, he's really brave and bit this fourth year's hand!" Peter smiled and waved. "And that's…" She sucked in a breath, Sirius looking expectantly at her with an eyebrow raised. She coughed. "Err… that's Sirius Black… he's a uh… He's nice."

Sirius waved. "Yep that's me. Sirius, _The Nice_." He winked at Evelyn who blushed furiously, wishing she had said something a lot more cooler.

When the train finally haltered to a stop at Hogsmeade Station there was a crack of thunder as rain started to plummet down from the heavens. The big giant at the front of the station, however, seemed to enjoy the rain and eagerly called out that all first years followed him.

"Me name's Hagrid, keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, If everyone wants t' get in a boat. Four a boat! Then we'll be off ter Hogwarts!"

James and Lily suddenly grabbed hold of Evelyn's hands and dragged her towards a boat. James got in first, Evelyn second and Lily followed behind, trembling. Peter had gotten into a boat with a boy who had incredibly large ears, but still looked rather dashing and a snooty boy with platinum blond hair.

Evelyn looked around the docks, in the hopes of seeing Sirius. She hadn't expected to lock gaze with him, however, resulting in him to suddenly make his way over.

"Oh merlin," She muttered, turning her head away as a blush crept to her cheeks. The boat sunk a little, indicating the fourth and final person had come onto the boat.

"I'm Amos Diggory!" A happy chap said, his short brown hair looking very gelled to his scalp.

As soon as every student was sat in a boat, Hagrid flashed his lantern and suddenly the boats began to sail across the waters, passing a huge archway, countless bridges and across a ruined fortress.

"There are things in the water!" Someone shouted abruptly. There were strange green and blue figures, swimming across the boats and under them and then off into the swift sunset ahead.

And then they saw it. Right in front of the setting sun was the biggest castle Evelyn had ever laid eyes upon (first a magical train station, then the biggest train ever, James' beautiful owl, Sirius being the most handsomest boy ever…) and now Hogwarts. But Hogwarts was just… magnificent.

"Bloody hell." James gasped behind her. "Ev… look at it!" She grinned and caught James' eye. This was going to be a fantastic year.

Once they were at the docks again, a teacher with a pointy look about her lead them all into the castle.

"I'm Professor McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration and I am also the Head of Gryffindor house." She announced proudly, smiling slightly at all the students in front of her. "You will make your way to the front of the great hall where you will be all sorted into your house. I will return momentarily."

There was a murmur as the professor left; there was a sorting?

"My brother said we have to fight off a dementor!" An Irish boy with blond hair said with a shiver.

"Hey, Evelyn!" James came up beside her with a boy she had never seen before. He looked shy and worried, he gulped and messed with his sandy hair. "This is Remus Lupin, he's my friend." She smiled at James, the boy was so kind to everyone. Well, people who deserved it anyways.

"Hi," Remus said.

"Do you have any idea what's awaiting us in there?" She asked, nodding her head towards the large closed doors. Remus shook his head.

"I don't think it's a test though, I think it's more about who we are. You know, on the inside." Evelyn decided she liked Remus a lot too, adding his name to her mental friends list.

The doors opened and they were all lead into the Great Hall, four great long tables full of expectant students watched the newcomers.

"I'll call out your name alphabetically."

"Shit, Ev… that means…" James looked at her in horror and quickly squeezed her hand as her name was called and she tripped towards the stool.

The professor smiled at her and murmured 'no need to be worried.' And then placed a hat onto her head.

_I remember your parents when they were sorted, yes. Full of academic spirit they were, had the knack to make it well in Ravenclaw. Your brother was right to be placed in Ravenclaw too. You however… There's a great urge to show how much you're worth. What you're made out of. Huge amount of bravery in you, hidden away inside… But I know you'll find it eventually. You value friendships greatly and I know that you'd do anything to protect them, even though you've only just met them. You think yourself worthless with no talent, but I can guarantee you that you will soon find many great things. In that case, you better be in..."_GRYFFINDOR!"

**** (Fith Year) ****

_Evelyn_

"Evelyn!" Sirius Black, in all his sexiness, shouted out my name as he entered the Hogwarts Kitchens. His eyes were wide and he tried to catch his breath as he strode swiftly towards me; his cloak whooshing around him as if he were a Prince on horseback, the wind on his face, as he looked over his vast empire.

"Evelyn," He breathed again, now taking my hand into his. I was shaking, looking up into his eyes. Was this real? Was Sirius Black actually holding my hand and calling my name? I sucked in a deep breath and stared into his dreamy grey eyes.

He smiled and I hastily followed his action. "I've been looking for you everywhere! I really need you." He pulled my arm slowly and instantly my feet followed.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; Sirius Black, my one and only crush, needed _me_? He had been looking for ME! I didn't know what to say, 'I love you too' or 'Yes, I will marry you'. He opened his mouth again and said- "Lily and James are fighting again." My grin disappeared, along with the hopes of me and Sirius ever getting together as a couple.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded and shrugged his broad shoulders, sending me a smile as he held the door open for me, bowing as I went through. "Lily looked like she was about to cry, so I thought some 'girl talk' might make her okay again."

"Oh…" I tried to hide my disappointment and allowed him to pull me through the corridor. As we walked through the castle, making our way to the Gryffindor common room where the fight was taking place, Sirius described to me what had happened this time round, and we both laughed together about how immature they were together.

Lily had lost some books and demanded James gave them her back, under the impression that the boy had stolen them as a foolish prank. "I can't really recall the entire story," Sirius admitted with a sheepish smile. "They were just throwing insults back and forth suddenly and I thought it was getting kinda outa hand. I mean, I'd only come back to the common room myself to get my robes since I'd mucked them up in Potions yesterday with that stupid wart draft."

"You don't want to go in there." The fat lady warned as we stood in front of the portrait.

"That bad, is it?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. It was only lunch time; most students hadn't even finished eating in the Great Hall.

"They're fine," Sirius said relentlessly, taking out his wand, "Just in case." He said with a lopsided grin. "_Noble_." The portrait opened, and we came face to face with the common room in utter ruins.

Sirius I and were silent for a moment, watching together in horror at what we were seeing. "What the bloody hell are you both doing?" I couldn't help but laugh.

There were feathers everywhere; there were a few books were scattered on the floor and on the sofa, with Lily and James standing by the fireplace, pillows in their hands. They were hitting each other with these pillows and every time the other got a shot, feathers would erupt from their pillow and would hit them in the face.

"Stop laughing," they both snapped at us when they realised they had an audience.

"James, you have feathers in your hair." Sirius said with a smile and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I tried to hide my blush.

"I searched far and wide to find Evelyn, thinking I'd need backup to hex one of you, and then we find you both having a _pillow fight_?!"

"This is not a pillow fight!" James said haughtily, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "This is a war!" He whacked the pillow against Lily's head, causing a flurry of feathers to blur her vision momentarily. She screamed in aggravation and pulled out her wand, sending a bogey hex to the stunned James. I cheered her on.

The common room opened and, thinking it was McGonagall, Lily and James stopped immediately.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Remus was speechless, dropping his Charms book on the floor at the destroyed common room. "Break it up now, you two! For merlin's sake, you guys aren't in first year anymore!" He pulled out his wand and bounded them both to the sofa.

"You're both fifteen years old! The year's only just started and you two are already bickering like an old married couple!" Remus paced up and down the sofas, sending the two of them glares as he continued scolding. Sirius and I snickered together quietly.

Ten minutes later, after his scolding had come to an end, Remus let the two of them go, Lily ran straight to the dorms without looking back.

"Told you she looked like she was going to cry." Sirius said once we heard the door slam.

"For the hundredth time, Ev... I'm fine." Lily glowered, shooing me away as she brushed her teeth.

"Sirius thought you seemed pretty upset. What did James say this time? You know you shouldn't take what he says seriously..."

"But that's the thing! He infuriates me! He's really nice to me one day; acting all nice and friendly. And then the next he's rude and arrogant! He's ALWAYS nice to you, Ev! He hates me! And yes, fine: I accused him of stealing my book, but he's done it on so many countless occasions that I just automatically assumed he had!"

Lily and James were either friends or enemies. Alice, Vicky and I liked to call them 'frenemies'. It had been like that ever since our first Charms lesson (which was our first ever EVER lesson). They'd been friends before it and then James and Lily had argued about the pronunciation of 'wingardium leviosa'... and then had become enemies until dinner time. During the first feast James had let Lily have the last slice of chocolate pie, resulting in them being friends again. See my point?

"He doesn't hate you." I rolled my eyes. "You're his friend."

"And being James Potter's friend," Vicky said as she came out from the bathroom. "Is good. He has loads of fit guy friends, and most of them are on the Quidditch teams."

"Vicky has an excellent point!" I clapped, giving Lily a nudge and a wink. "We're all adults now... well sorta. It's time to see what the male population at this school think! Especially you, Lily, and Vicky. You're both gorgeous."

I tried to hide the envy in my voice; they already got a lot of notice from boys. But we were all still waiting for our 'magical first kiss' moment, so I didn't feel too much like a failure.

"Isn't there a Quidditch try out this weekend? We should definitely go and watch it."

"Yeah," I said with a nod, agreeing with Vicky. "Gabe is going to try out this year as seeker, so I need to be there anyways to cheer him on." Gabriel, my brother who was a year younger than me, had joined me in Gryffindor, which I was most pleased about.

"Don't forget though we have History Of Magic tomorrow; Binns wants us there early because there's that test." Lily reminded us.

"How does Binns not die of boredom every day? How hasn't he already? He's been working here for like fifty years and yet the Goblin Wars are still as boring and uninteresting as ever. I swear one of these days that man will probably die in a classroom and it will be the most epic lesson ever." I hated that class, more so because Sirius was right in front of me and James was sat next to me. So that meant Sirius was **always **turning around to talk to James and I'd be there... having to look at that gorgeous face, not that I minded.

One dreamless sleep after and it was 7 am and the four of us made our way towards the Great Hall. Nike came flying down as I was buttering my morning toast, she, like all the other owls, carried the newspapers and parcels and letters that were sent to the students daily. I stroked her head and she plopped the mail in front of me, seeing as James wasn't down yet.

"Help yourself to some toast and milk." I said to her and she hooted happily. There was a letter for James and the newspaper.

"I swear," James said with a grunt as he and his friends plopped beside us. "That bird likes you more than me!" He called Nike over and fed her a bit of sausage.

"It's because she knows I'm lonely." I cooed at the owl which made Sirius snort.

James opened up his letter and then tossed the letter to me.

During my first year here the Potters had sent me letters full of wishes and hopes that I would enjoy the year and that during the summer I was welcome to come to the Potter's any time for tea. They were so kind and thoughtful and treated me like a daughter. I smiled as I read their letter, they hoped we had a good year and that James should try and injure the 7th year Gryffindor Quidditch Captain so that he could take up the title.

A short while after there was a murmur through the students as they glanced towards the teachers table; Professor Binns was nowhere to be seen.

Dumbledore stood up and hit his fork against his goblet, the large ringing sound made everyone suddenly quiet. "I regret to inform everyone... that..." He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Professor Binns passed away during the night."

My mouth gaped open, not believing what I was hearing.

"There will, however, still be History Of Magic classes. That is all." Dumbledore sat down, looking a lot happier than he should have been, seeing as one of his colleagues had just died.

My mind wandered back to yesterday, about what I had said. "Oh my God." I dropped my toast on Nike, she hooted angrily and flew away.

"Yeah..." James whistled lowly, all of us not knowing what to say.

"He was a fine professor..." Sirius said grimly, not two seconds had passed when Remus let out a chuckle. Alarmed, he had tried to hide it, but he couldn't help himself and was soon shaking with laughter.

"He was the worst teacher ever." Remus suddenly wheezed out behind his sleeve, tears of laughter running down his face.

So, we're not exactly the best students it would seem... needless to say, the topic passed.

I told the boys what I had said last night, trying not to look at Remus who was still trying to contain his giggles. One look at him would set us all off laughing again.

"You killed Binns!" Sirius gasped, throwing a tea bag at me in mock horror. "_How could you. _And to such an amazing senior!"

"You know," Remus was able to talk now as he swigged down some orange juice. "There are legends that say the halls and walls of Hogwarts are alive... And that they're always listening in on every conversation, at every second. Each and every conversation that has been uttered by students flow between the walls; even the past conversations and the present and the future. And they say that sometimes Hogwarts is so magical that when they hear your thoughts and wishes... it comes true."

It was such a drastic change in conversation, laughing about a dead professor and then suddenly onto the creepy history of the castle. We all looked at Remus, unable to say anything.

"As if," Frank said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon us all. "That's what Peeves would probably say to a first year to try and scare them off." The conversation changed again as one does, but for me Remus' words haunted me as we made our way towards History Of Magic... did Hogwarts really do that? Could it hear me, right now? Had it heard me wish about Sirius Black? (And if so; why hadn't it granted me the wish of having Sirius Black instead of killing our boring History teacher?)

Like normal, I sat next to James and Sirius and Remus sat in front of us. Lily and Vicky sat on one side and Alice and Frank on the other. Peter sat on the desk behind with a Hufflepuff he had a crush on. We were all talking, wondering about who would be our teacher when we felt the presence of a ghost come into the room. Some immediately put books over their heads, expecting it to be Peeves who was about to drop an unexpected dungbomb on us all. But then we heard the voice of someone familiar.

"Glad to see you are all here, ready to take the short test. It's about the Goblin Wars from 1066 - 1096. Answers that come back wrong will be discussed later on in the lesson." Binns was gliding down the classroom, as a _ghost. _He was so engrossed in his monologue about the great Goblin King Tritan to see our amused and shocked faces.

"Professor," One Hufflepuff girl asked with a gasp. "What happened? Are you alright, Sir?"

"Perfect!" The ghost said with a smile. He placed down his book at his desk. "Better, in fact." He circled through the air and passed through the wall like a dodgem, we could hear him gleefully hollering through the walls and then he suddenly returned. "I've always wanted to be a ghost. Now I can teach History forever!"

No one had ever seen Binns so lively, and it was unbearably ironic how he was now a ghost and so full of energy! Remus was giggling again, followed by the majority of the class. But Binns took no notice, he picked up his book again and finished his long drawl and then passed around the tests.

"Looks like we should all be careful about what we say then," Lily said with a grin as we stepped out of the classroom an hour and a half later. Sirius stretched his arms and groaned at his (and I quote) 'sore arse'. "Maybe Hogwarts is becoming alive and it'll hear things more often. We'd better be careful we don't wish for things that are bad."

Sirius stopped for a second and grabbed my hand. My heart thumped and it missed a beat as his thumb danced against my fingers. My stomach fluttered.

"You know what I wish?" He murmured, staring up at the vast staircases that were moving and carrying various students and ghosts.

I shrugged, wanting to know what he would wish for so much.

"For..." He breathed out and stared at me, I was unable to look away as he smiled. "Chocolate pizza."

His hand left mine and he looked around the corridor. No sign of a chocolate pizza. He sighed and called out after Remus. "Were you lying? The walls didn't hear a thing!"

**Author's note:**

**Sorry if this first chapter was so long... I didn't know when to finish it, but I think this turned out well! Here's hoping that many of you enjoy this fic, just as I will enjoy writing it! If you liked it, leave a comment and see you in a few days maybe for the next chapter! Mucho love! (And I know there's always the curse of the first chapter; firsties are always so boring and uneventful so, please, bear with me.**


	3. Erised

**Got my first review yesterday! Thanks a lot to the anon, I really appreciated you taking the time to comment, I hope you continue to like it! **

**Chapter Three;**

_**"**_**and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau**

Have you ever had that feeling where your life just comes to a halt? Mind goes blank, your heart beats steadily but you can feel it beating slower and slower, your head aching. You may think me morbid, but it was strange to feel this. It was like my mind was miles away from my own body, like it knew that maybe these were the last moments I'd see.  
>Have you ever thought about that? Fearing, just being in so much fear that one day you'll take your last breath. You'll only see the green hills and feel that English breeze on your face just that one last time. That maybe you'll just become a memory?<p>

Of course, it wasn't like Bellatrix Black and Themis Flint were going to kill us... right?

Lily backed away slowly towards the wall and I followed her steps. She was breathing heavily, grasping onto her wand through her robes. If Lily Evans, the princess of bravery, one who could have easily been Joan of Arc in her past life, was scared then that obviously spelt trouble.

"Don't look so scared, mudblood." Flint sneered at Lily, pushing his wand into her face so she was blinded by the light for a few seconds. "We're not gonna kill you... yet, anyways."

"Don't call her that!" I snapped before I could think. Anger and hate bubbled inside of me.

They dared to call her that? Call her something so vile and discriminating and so cowardly? People are always afraid of what they're not used to. Perhaps to them, the thought that someone had magical abilities and wasn't in a prestigious pure blood line was unheard of. Their families would have been going on for centuries after centuries; each grandfather holding a legacy that their ancestors would speak of day after day. They were afraid that blood didn't matter anymore. Afraid that they'd be deemed just 'normal' and ordinary.

"I'll call her whatever I damn well like!" Flint roared, I was surprised the portraits around us hadn't woken up at the commotion. But they just remained in their frames, snoring- so oblivious to the world outside of their safe frames. "So shut your face, filthy halfblood." Again with the blood insults? I snorted, how ridiculous.

"It's alright," Lily assured me.

"Themis!" Black screeched beside him, stomping her foot impatiently. "We don't have time for this."

"They could come in useful." Flint stepped back to Black and they assessed us both for a short while. It felt strange and uncomfortable as Bellatrix Black looked at me, scanned my face and body down to the last tee and then to my wand- which was held out firm in my hand. She had the same gray eyes as Sirius, the one feature of his that was my favourite, the thing that had me like him instantly. Whilst Sirius' eyes sparkled like stars, Bellatrix's were dark and fierce.

"Perhaps," She drawled out, checking her watch. "If so then we had better leave now, before that stupid head boy comes."

"What makes you think we'd go anywhere with you? And help you?" Lily laughed. If there was fear inside her then she didn't let it show. I admired her.

"Because," Flint spat, "even though you're safe here in Hogwarts, with all these stupid rules and the teachers on the look out. But who's going to protect you outside these walls? When you're on the school holidays or when you've graduated?" He moved close to Lily again and I wished that the fear inside of me wasn't holding me back. I wished I wasn't a coward so that I could protect my friends when they needed it. He tapped his wand on her cheek.

"There's no saying what can happen once you've graduated from this school, mudblood. Do you not know what's coming? Something big. And you would be wise to help us now, or you will suffer the consequences later."

"So... you're saying you won't kill us ... until later?" Again my mouth opened before I knew what was happening. Despite the violent thumping of my heart, I could feel my grip tighten and I knew that if I wanted to be something, to be remembered then I needed to act. What was the point of living a life in fear, a life so harboured that when faced with death you realised that you hadn't lived not even one minute of your life?

"I didn't say that." Flint snapped, now advancing to me. "Just that we might be kinder when it happens."

I snorted. Merlin what was happening to me? Maybe thinking depressing thoughts about death and harboured lives was doing me good. "Then the same goes to you. What's going to protect you when you leave the castle? Who's to say that in five years time, _you're _the one who is at the mercy of someone's bidding." I saw Black take a side step towards me, her wand ready as if to start cursing me.

"I'm not saying we won't help!" I added quickly, holding up my hands in defence. Lily glared at me. "Just that we come to some sort of agreement."

"What kind of agreement?" Black asked with a shrewd laugh that made my skin tingle with sickness.

"That if we help," Lily called out. "You help us. An eye for an eye. We're not saying that we become friends or even acquaintances; just that you take our help into consideration and you remember it."

Black rolled her eyes, yelling at Flint that they were running out of time. "Fine!" Flint said with a hiss. "Agreed."

They started walking immediately and we had no choice but to follow them. I doubt it wouldn't have been very clever to run away after we had just saved our necks for the future. Lily caught my eye, she must have been thinking the same thing.

One, two, three, four, five stairs we climbed. Then it was six. We stopped at the seventh.

"Where are they taking us?" Lily whispered to me as we all turned a corner. "Maybe they lied and are taking us to the furthest part of the castle to kill us and chop us up into little pieces and leave us there for knargles and all sorts to eat us."

"I... I don't know, Lils." I murmured, making sure that neither Black or Flint could hear us. The last thing I wanted was those Slytherins getting ideas.

"Look," Lily grabbed hold of my hand, stopping me for a second. "Just run now, run back to the common room and... and call for James. Get James to come and help us."

What would be the point in that? How would James be able to save us? We weren't in the 1900's anymore... women hadn't died for our rights so that we could remain damsels in distress. It wasn't even just the muggle women, it had been witches too, wanting their rights too for jobs in the ministry and other areas.

"I'm not leaving you." Was all I said.

I wouldn't have been able to anyways; even if the thought of running had crossed my mind, we suddenly all stopped outside a bare bit of wall. It looked like any other slab of concrete, but to Flint and Black there was obviously something hidden there. Black watched as Flint walked up and down beside the wall, muttering something every time he did. He stopped after a while and watched as two doors magically appeared. It seemed that this was meant to happen, as himself and Black showed no signs of surprise.

Lily and I, however, stood there with our mouths open wide. It was like magic, as ironic as that was. The doors legit had appeared by magic.

Through the doors there was a large room, full to the brink with random objects of all sorts. Chairs, a piano, an old muggle radio; anything and everything. Some things were collecting dust, others had obviously been used quite recently. Lily and I watched as the two older students made their way towards something large, covered in a long black sheet. After pulling down the sheet I realised it was a mirror of some sort.

Flint beckoned us forward, the two of them squabbling over something quietly. It seemed that Flint had lost the argument, he cleared his throat and asked if we spoke any languages.

"French." Lily said. "And a bit of Latin, I suppose."

"None." I said, feeling a bit stupid and helpless.

Black pushed us both forward again, so that we were standing right in front of the mirror. It was a beast of a mirror, as tall as it was wide with beautiful and strange markings going up along the side of it and stopping at the top. The strangest thing was that it wasn't showing our reflection, it was like it was bare; empty.

"Do you know what the words at the top mean?" Flint asked, his cheeks reddening. He obviously found it humiliating that he had to stoop low and get the help of Gryffindor students, a muggle born and a half blood witch at that.

My eyes drifted to the top of the mirror. __Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.__ My skin tingled just looking at it. Like the first day I had arrived at Hogwarts, feeling all that magic had caused me to falter for a second and I was feeling the same right now.

"It's not Latin." Lily said with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's not any language at all... it seems to be just gibberish."

"I told you." Black hissed, poking her wand into Flint's side.

If it wasn't in a language, it had to be in some sort of code? What was the point of having something written that didn't make sense? Everything had a reason behind it, didn't it? My eyes glanced up at the words again, taking in every letter and space mark, reading it back and forwards.

"Hang on," I muttered, stepping forward again. "It's backwards."

For a second it didn't feel like we were students from rivalry houses, just mere students sharing a moment of awe. Our voices joining in together as we all stated what was inscribed backwards: "I show not your face but your heart's desire."

"You can go first then." Black pulled Lily back so that I was alone in front of it.

My reflection came into view, but it wasn't the Evelyn Acres I was. This Evelyn was happy, happy with herself and her life. Next to her was a smiling Sirius and they were both holding hands. My cheeks blushed. Gabriel came into view too, a shiny red badge placed on his robes that stated 'QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN'.

"What can you see?" Lily asked eagerly.

"Uuh," I coughed. "It's me... but me older. With my brother... h-he's Quidditch Captain." Somehow I doubted that Bellatrix Black would be impressed or happy if she knew that I could see Sirius in my heart's desire.

"And now the mudblood." I was pulled back by Black roughly and it was Lily's turn to go forward. She stumbled slightly but regained her balance. I watched as her eyes widened at whatever she could see.

"I'm... I'm head girl." Her cheeks were red.

Flint sneered, muttering something that was probably offensive. "That was all you were needed for. Now scram before I'm tempted to go back on my word and curse you both so you're slithering on your backs."

Lily fled instantly and I was hot on her tail, we didn't stop running until we made it to the common room, all ice cream cravings now out of the window.

"What the hell was all that about?!" She muttered, obviously too alarmed to sit down. She looked freaked out. "They could have freaking killed us and instead made us look into a mirror that showed our desires? How twisted is that? Since when did Slytherins care about their 'heart's desires'?!"

"Maybe they were checking the mirror wasn't cursed or something? So they used us as bait... they'd know it wasn't safe if you and I started melting or something."

"And that room too." Lily was talking to herself as we walked to the dorms. "I'm sure I've seen James and Sirius lurking up in that corridor before."

"A room that only appears when you walk up and down past it like a loony." I remarked.

* * *

><p>Neither of us mentioned what happened the next day. We caught eyes in the morning, but it was like we had silently agreed not to mention it to anyone. Not yet anyways.<p>

"Merlin," Vicky yawned as she dressed into her school robes. "Thank goodness that tomorrow's the weekend. Hogsmeade!"

I felt a lump in my tummy at the last word. Memories of the try-outs washed over me, Eddie asking if I could go with him. Maybe he'd been messing with me and hadn't really meant it? He was a fit bloke, puberty had obviously served him well. Thanks to Quidditch he had a tall and strong physique, his hair was a honey brown and his eyes were a beautiful brown. He had obviously been messing with me.

It wasn't until breakfast that I was proved wrong. Alice had been talking about her weird dream, it involved weird jelly rabbits and Frank, when all of sudden she had stopped and was staring at something behind me, her mouth open in shock.

"Hullo girls." A think northern accent stated and instantly Lily moved so that someone could sit next to me. Eddie flashed me a smile. "So, shall I meet you in here at say... noon? Then we can make our way to Hogsmeade together and go look around?"

I found myself unable to speak, the girls staring at me wide eyed as I nodded. The marauders had just entered the hall, Sirius walking hand-in-hand with Maggie.

"You guys look like you've seen a ghost." James stated humourously as they sat down.

"Eddie just asked Evelyn out to Hogsmeade." Alice gaped. The four marauders and Maggie's jaws dropped too.

"Really?!" Sirius asked, glancing at Eddie who nodded slowly.

"So I'll see you then," Eddie nodded again, obviously not liking the attention of everyone staring at him like he had three heads. "By Evelyn. Bye guys." He stood up and made his way to his friends who were sat a few seats down the table.

Remus whistled. "Wow Evelyn. Way to go."

"You guys are acting like it's a shock that someone asked me out." If I had a quid for how much I had blushed these past few days then I'd be a millionaire.

"Well," Vicky coughed. "You're not the... most sociable of people." She was going to say more but Lily glared at her to shut up.

Our first class was Potions with the Slytherin lot. It would have been unbearable but the Potions Master, Professor Slughorn, was actually a jolly and happy man who judged not by what house you were in but by how well you could brew a potion. Lily, being the best student in the class, was the obvious favourite.

"Miss Evans and friends!" He beamed, smiling down at us all. "Hope you all had a fantastic week. Now, to work."

Slughorn started talking about the Draught of Peace, writing something on the blackboard that was obviously important but I took no notice, staring hard at my desk. Why? Sirius Black was my potions partner. Sirius freaking Black was sitting next to me. I could smell his musky cologne that just tickled my senses.

We had all gotten to the class room at the same time, Remus paired with James and Vicky and Alice sat down at once. I had already sat down at an empty table and it looked like Lily was about to join me when Sirius sat down next to me, saying good morning as he did so. I had stuttered back a reply, ignoring Lily's curious glance as she instead took her seat next to Frank. Peter was already talking animatedly to someone else in our year, a girl with rosy cheeks who I hadn't really talked to very much.

"Now, begin!" Slughorn said gleefully, turning the sand timer on his desk.

"Crap." How had I missed everything he had said? Sirius chuckled next to me and leaned in, his face so very close to mine. So close that I could count his every eyelash.

"Don't worry, I took notes and I also have my book out on the correct page." He tapped his finger (what a beautiful and glorious finger he had) on the page 394. I was about to take my book out of my bag when he stopped me, placing his hand over mine. It was warm and he removed it instantly. "We can share." He shrugged and stood up. "I'll get the ingredients, you get the cauldron then."

I'd never sat next to Sirius in a lesson before, it was usually Lily and occasionally Remus. We seemed to work together quite well, we took turns reading aloud and then added the ingredients after the other crushed it. It seemed, however, neither of us were incredibly skilled in the art that was and is potion brewing.

"Do we crush the porcupine quills or just leave them whole?"

Sirius hummed as he stared at the quills in front of him. He bit his lip and shrugged. "The stupid book doesn't specify."

"Remember back in first year when the potions were so simple and all you had to do was just follow the book and it told you everything you needed to do?"

"Yeah," Sirius sighed, crushing a little of the quill and adding it to the potion, checking to see what happened. "Those were the days. And to think we were actually supposed to remember how to handle all the ingredients and what to do if one potion was more watery or thicker than the other."

We both hummed in agreement again. James and Remus were quarreling about what colour the potion was supposed to be, James was obviously a bit flushed as his hair, that was usually already a bit ruffled and messy, was almost sticking up in the air. Their potions was a light red.

"What colour is it supposed to be after the quills?" He asked.

"Uuuh..." I checked the book. "Red." Our potion was still a violent purple colour. Time was running out.

"I think," Sirius said. "to save time we should just add the quills as they are. God knows why Frank is shaking his like a lunatic but he looks daft doing it, so."

Whenever I was with Sirius time passed too quickly, the class was over as soon as it had begun. It turned out Frank had been right in shaking the quills and so Sirius and I both received a 'Poor', Slughorn telling us not to worry and that we were welcome to come by to his 'slug club' next year (only sixth years and above were allowed to go, alcohol was served).

"Why the hell would you shake something with that much force? Especially a stupid potion that's supposed to bring the brewer peace. How ironic is that." Sirius muttered to me as we all left the dungeons.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Sirius stopped.

"What's on the seventh floor?"

Sirius stared at me, surprised. He opened his mouth to speak when-

"Siriuuuuus~." Maggie was waving him over.

"Uh, I'll get back to you on that," Sirius called over to me, waving at me briefly before he walked away with Maggie.

* * *

><p>"For the last time, Lily. You don't need to wait with me, you're not my mum."<p>

"I know," Lily bit her lip, patting me on the shoulder. "I just don't want to leave you on your own."

I rolled my eyes and threw a cherry tomato at her. "I'm not alone. Remus is here."

"Aye, that I am." Remus said, lifting up his goblet of orange juice up at us before taking a sip.

"But I feel bad if I'm not here with you when Eddie doesn't..." She stopped herself, realising the mistake she'd just made. "Uhh... when he does come, I mean."

"If you want, Lily," Remus said, "I'll be on the lookout and make sure that Evelyn goes to Hogsmeade with Eddie. I shall be her protector whilst she eats her sandwiches."

Lily looked unconvinced but James pulled her out of the hall, complaining that if they didn't hurry then the queue for Honeydukes and Zonkos would be massive.

"Why aren't you coming to Hogsmeade, Remus?" I asked, shifting in my seat.

He shrugged. "I don't feel that well and I've got a bit of studying to catch up on since I missed last nights..."

"Why did you miss last nights?"

"Oh," He blushed, waving his hand nonchalantly, "Uh, no reason really."

We chatted for a few minutes before he nodded his head towards the doors, Eddie had just entered.

"Hey," He smiled as he walked over. "Sorry I'm late, shall we go then?"

"Yeah." I said, getting up. I waved Remus goodbye and followed Eddie out of the hall.

Eddie was charming. He was funny and somehow made me laugh at the silliest of things. He was quite the comedian, something that I- being an introvert- was not all that used to. Needless to say, just the walk alone to Hogsmeade was fun and I found myself liking Eddie more and more as he made our way towards Honeydukes.

He bought me a chocolate lollipop, telling me that I was sweet. I giggled and thanked him.

"Do you want to go to Zonkos?" He asked, obviously eager to go and browse at the merchandise. I nodded, not really minding and allowed him to grab my hand and pull me towards the shop.

"Put your hand on this." He said, passing me a strange jelly like square. As soon as my hand touched it the square turned into a hand and started intimidating anything and everything that I did.

I giggled. "That's impressive."

Eddie was just trying out a cockroach cluster when there was suddenly a flash of lightning and thunder, followed by heavy rain. Everyone in the shop jumped at the sound, watching the rain through the window.

"Luckily, I brought this." Eddie rummaged through his pockets and took out a small plastic bag. After a few seconds of searching for something he sang out an 'a-ha!' and wallah, out came a large black umbrella. From the small plastic bag.

"How the heck did you do that?!" I gasped, walking over and peeking into the bag, it was bigger on the inside! Books, a coat, some sandwiches and his broomstick were stored in this tiniest of tiny plastic bags.

"Magic, my dear." He joked, speaking in a mysterious voice. "Nah, you'll learn it next year in Flitwick's class. Bloody useful spell and all, not like the general rubbish that you have to learn."

"That is very handy." I said with a smile.

A couple of students were braving the rain and running outside with their fleeces and jackets, protecting them, poorly, from the mighty rain. Eddie and I still hadn't finished looking around, so we walked around slowly, pointing at funny things and trying out some of the stuff that made us both erupt into childish giggles.

"So, my dear Evelyn," Eddie said with a sigh once we had purchased some sugar quills. "We have two choices." He said in a dramatic voice as we looked out at the still impending rainstorm. "We either run outside and try to find shelter somewhere... or we run and find shelter."

"I quite like the sound of the latter, to be honest. Very good plan."

"Why thank you." He said with a smirk. "Ready?" I grabbed hold of his hand and he put up his umbrella immediately, our bodies close as we stepped out into the storm.

"Wow!" He shouted over the rain, it sounding like hail rather than rain. "This is dangerous!" He laughed.

We both made our way downhill, treading carefully as the gravel had become slippy.

"Watch out," He said and he grabbed hold of my hand tighter, "It's really slippy."

I walked first, leaving the shelter of his umbrella. I trod carefully and made it safely across, just next to the Three Broomsticks. It was then Eddie's turn, he took two steps and slipped suddenly. He yelped out a scream and skidded onto his bottom. Trying not to laugh, I ran quickly to him, stuttering out an 'are you okay, oh my god' with shaky laughs.

"Well," He stumbled slightly to his feet, brushing off some of the gravel from his butt. "That was embarrassing."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

He blushed, not meeting my eyes. "I'm fine, just more worried about my umbrella." He stroked the object carefully and made sure it wasn't broken. By the time he was sure it hadn't been injured we were both soaking from the rain and decided to run (without falling) to The Three Broomsticks.

Madam Rosmerta fussed over us, tutting at our soaked clothes- we probably looked like drowned rats.

"The first butterbeer is on me," She said, cleaning up the bar. "Don't want upset and wet customers!" Eddie carried over our drinks and we found Lily and James sat at a table already.

"Having fun were we in the rain?" James said with a suggestive smile, waggling his eyebrows. Lily pushed him softly.

"Yeah, and then I fell on my arse and looked like a right git. I'm supposed to impress a girl, not make her laugh at my stupidity." Eddie said and sent me a crazy face- eyes crossed and his tongue lolled out to the side of his mouth. 'Charming.' James commented with a snort as he drank the last drags of his butterbeer.

"Did you see anyone else?" Lily asked me, to which I shook my head.

"We've been in here since the rain started." James sighed. "I know Peter's on some date with Betty at Puddifoot's and Sirius and Maggie are supposed to be at Zonkos."

"We went to Zonkos, didn't see them."

Oh God. Sirius and Maggie? The two names together just inflated me somehow. I hated the fact I was acting so stupid. I wanted to be over Sirius Black, I didn't want that insane feeling in my stomach, the butterflies, when I heard his name. And yet I didn't want him to be with Maggie, she just didn't seem right with him. But who was I to judge, right?

Peter came running into the pub, only stopping for a breath when he reached our table. "They're by the fountain, snogging." He said in an excited voice. He shared a look with James, who nodded.

"I'm so coming to see this. Come on, let's go spy on them and embarrass them."

He pulled Lily and I out of our seats. "Is this really necessary?" Lily asked with a frown. "What about their privacy?"

James and Peter snorted. "Sirius doesn't know that word."

Peter nodded. "Just like that time he saw me and that bird in third year and he made our conversation be heard throughout the entire castle..."

"Or him taking pictures of me sleeping in my birthday suit and sticking them everywhere, including and ESPECIALLY the dungeons. I think Slughorn's got one saved in his office." James added, shuddering.

"Sounds fun," Eddie said with a smile and stood up, holding out his hand for me. "You gonna come?"

"Alright."

James suggested we snuck out of the door and hid behind one of the bushes that was just opposite the fountain, giving us a perfect view of the couple (much to my despair). The rain hadn't stopped but was much lighter now, a slight drizzle. The street was still mostly empty, most students still staying indoors and trying to dry themselves as much as they can. There was someone lurking just on the other side of the street and that was it.

"Could they be any more disgusting?" Peter sniggered.

Sirius had his arm around Maggie's shoulders and they were both snogging at such speed, the sloppy wet kissing sounds going right through me and making me shake slightly.

"Should we jump out and scare them?" James said.

"I think we give it another minute and then jump out and start embarrassing Sirius so much; he has been crushing on Maggie for months now." Eddie chipped in. James started counting down from sixty seconds, Peter chanting along beside him.

They'd only just got down to thirty four seconds when someone shouted out Maggie's name.

"Who is it?" James hissed, the face of the stranger was hidden behind the fountain. There were raised and angry voices.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Leb!" Maggie seemed nervous, laughing awkwardly as she removed Sirius' arm from her quite forcefully. "It's not what it looks like. We were just messing around, nothing serious..."

She was running towards the other guy, but he didn't seem interested. She pushed herself onto him, lunging her arms around his neck but he stopped her. Sirius barged towards them.

"You what?" He asked, half surprised and half amused. "Nothing serious? You didn't tell me that just five minutes ago when you were happily about to come back to my room."

"What are you, like fourteen?" The boy scoffed. The stranger was wearing very posh looking business shoes, followed by some work trousers. He must have been an office worker of some sorts.

"I'm fifteen actually," Sirius said. "Not that that matters."

"Crap, should we do something?" Lily asked with worry. Maggie was yelling at them both to stop, like she was enjoying having two guys both argue over her.

"Nah," James said with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah, this is far too amusing." I shook my head at James and Peter's childishness, although I did have to admit that I was getting slightly amused by Maggie's high pitched shrieks.

"Caleb! Sirius! Stop it now!"

"Sirius?" The stranger stopped and suddenly his face came into view.

"No," I gasped, alarm bells ringing incessantly in my head. I felt dizzy.

"By Jove! Caleb!" Sirius let out a gasp. "Caleb Acres!"

"Your freaking brother is the one that Maggie is seeing?!" James gasped, not believing his eyes.

"He's not my brother anymore," I whispered, watching as the two boys laughed and hugged each other- forgetting that Maggie was there crying crocodile tears. "'Specially not if after this he continues seeing that hag."

"You two know each other?" Maggie asked, surprised.

Sirius' smile vanished, a frown appearing as he and my brother turned to her.

"How many more guys have you been seeing behind my back?" Caleb asked angrily. Maggie was silent.

"Answer him!" Sirius shouted and Maggie opened her mouth. We waited, anticipating, what kind of excuse she was going to give, but it never came. The doors to Three Broomsticks opened with a bang and out ran my nincompoop of a brother with Vicky. They were holding hands and he was singing opera, he stopped in shock when he saw Caleb and Sirius and the tear stricken Maggie, as well as our faces that were now uncovered from the bush.

Caleb followed Gabe's gaze, his eyes meeting mine. "Evie!" Caleb said, throwing out his arms.

* * *

><p>Remus couldn't stop laughing. "Merlin's beard." He cackled, patting his chest in the hopes of stopping his chuckles. "Man, I wish I had gone, just to see that happen."<p>

"It wasn't that hilarious." Sirius drawled with a roll of his eyes. He'd been moody ever since we got back to Hogwarts. He and Maggie were now over, although I was unsure if they had ever even began, Caleb had also stopped his ties with her too. "Gosh, how stupid was I. Tell your brother I'm really sorry again." He called out to me and then left the common room, all the while muttering to himself.

"He's a right moody cow sometimes."

"Aw come on Pete. The poor sod's just had his heart broken."

Remus snorted at James' words. "He needed a taste of his own medicine. Maybe now he'll actually take my advice and focus on his studies more."

"Maybe I will!" Came Sirius' snooty reply, he was now wearing some marvelous grey pajama bottoms. He snatched up his book that he had forgotten. James rolled his eyes.

"Sure, course you will."

"Nah, I mean it this time. I'm not going to anymore." Sirius said seriously, his voice a threatening tone.

"I don't understand what's quite going on..." I said, eyeing the four boys.

"Evelyn can be my witness!" Sirius placed his hand on my shoulder. "From this moment on, Sirius Black is staying single until he graduates from Hogwarts with flying colours."

PANG. Oh, don't mind that... just my heart breaking into a million of tiny, little pieces.

* * *

><p><strong>Authour's note:<strong>

**Howdy, howdy! Hope y'all enjoyed this, leave a review if you have time and I'll see you when the next chapter has been posted. Sorry for any mistakes, I'll re-read it tomorrow and correct anything if there are mistakes. Until then~**


	4. Invisible

**Wow! So America is definitely winning in the most views and most visitors right now! England is in a close second with Australia coming in on third! How exciting, eh? Thanks to the two anons who reviewed too aaand mucho thankies to **TearsOfEagles**!** **Thank you very very much! Anyways, same old 'I do not own Harry Potter' right here and now, onto the chapter! Please review guys! Reviews really motivate me and if you guys don't review then it makes me think that no one enjoys the chapter *sad face here***

**Chapter Four;**

**"I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; " - Henry David Thoreau**

"No."

James Potter, ever 'the mature one', let out a childish whine. "But why?"

"James," There was an impatient huff. "Need I remind you that I'm a prefect?"

"Need I remind you that you're a boring old git?" Came James' reply, mocking the shrill tone that the girl had possessed.

Lily Evans raised an eyebrow, she contemplated about hexing him but then just settled with flipping a page in her Transfiguration book. Her eyes hardened. She didn't look very impressed. James groaned and fell further down the sofa, laying his head on her shoulder. She froze, only for a second, at the close proximity and then moved slightly, hoping that it would make the lanky boy move away.

It didn't work; If anything it made him lean his head further onto her, sending her a smile that was making the hair on the back of her neck tingle. She groaned this time, refusing to let him win.

"I just don't want to break any school rules." They were both in the common room which, surprisingly, was empty apart from the two of them. It wasn't that surprising, however, when you realised it was already past midnight and that all sane students were already asleep.

James scoffed. "You and Evelyn seemed fine breaking the rules a few nights ago to go on a midnight walk around the castle."

"How do you know about that?" She squinted her eyes, giving James what she hoped was an intimidating glare. "Have you been spying on me?"

A nervous, high pitched batch of laughter, followed by a manly cough was her answer. "Hardly," He drummed his fingers against the side of the sofa. "I saw you both in the common room, chattering on to each other about ice cream flavours."

Lily was silent for a second, racking her brain back back to that night. "I didn't see you in here..."

"Well, I was lying down on the sofa, you see." His reply came out hurried and unconvincing. "Remus sleep talks and he was uh," He scratched his head, wondering if she was buying any of this, because he certainly wasn't... "mumbling on about rabbits and how they were flying on broomsticks and playing Quidditch against him and he was loosing apparently (which is why he has never played Quidditch, he really would lose against rabbits). Sirius and Peter are really heavy sleepers and Frank was listening to music on this weird muggle contraption whilst studying... so they... uh didn't hear any of it."

Lily decided to just ignore him once again (it was the easiest thing to do) and went back to her study book, jotting down a few notes on a spare piece of parchment.

"It'll be really fun." She almost wanted to cry out in frustration as she heard his voice, this time coming right next to her ears, his voice tickling with persuasion. She bit her lip but refused to look him in the eyes, knowing that their faces were probably mere centimeters apart.

"I already promised Evelyn I'd- "

"Evelyn can come too then."

Lily scoffed again, shutting her book now with a slam. "Evelyn won't want to."

"Why are girls so infuriating?" James glared, watching as Lily stood from the sofa and yawned. "Why can't you just do this one little thing- "

"Why can't boys just take 'NO' as an answer?" _Touché_, James thought with a chuckle. "Look," She placed her books on the side of the settee and turned to face him, who was stood defiantly by the fireplace. "Evelyn won't want to be near Sirius and just believe me when I say that that is for the best _and_ if we did it then it'd get really rowdy and- "

"But Evelyn and Sirius are mates?" James looked dumbfounded as Lily let out another cry of frustration, she was harbouring all her strength and the urge to throw her book at his stupid face right then and there was so _tempting _that she even felt her finger tickle and lean forward.

"Evelyn likes Sirius!" The words were blurted come out before she had time to realise what she was saying. James' eyes widened and Lily's hands shot up to her mouth, muttering out a swear-word.

"Wow." The news made him fall back onto the settee, lying there motionless as Lily timidly sat next to him again; her hands writhed together on her lap.

"Please don't say anything." She was beyond begging, this was now a plea. The biggest plea of all pleas.

James let out a shrill laugh, the first sign of life he had shown in a matter of minutes. "I'm not a twelve year old girl who gossips all the time." He muttered, heat rising to his cheeks as he heard her mumble a 'could've fooled me'.

There was another silence again, the only sound coming from the crackling of the fire.

"How long for?"

She'd already gone too far by telling James in the first place, there was no harm in adding more fuel to the fire now. The worse had already happened. "Uuh... I dunno... m-maybe since last year."

James looked unconvinced.

"_Fine_, s-since first year, on't train."

"Bloody hell! I was there when that happened! She was hiding in the compartment and Sirius opened it, not realising she'd be by the door and they both fell over each other and ended up on the floor." He sent Lily a goofy smile, she refused to listen to the swell of her heart when she saw him.

"Please don't embarrass her."

"I won't."

"And please don't act all stupid with Sirius."

"I won't."

"Thanks James." She breathed out a sigh of relief. "You're a real mate, sometimes anyways."

"It's going to cost you, though." Lily, who had been walking towards the Girl's staircases, froze.

"What do you want?"

James shrugged, trying to suppress his smile. "Uh. You can owe me a favour, if you want? It won't be anything drastic. Just a friendly favour."

"Fine." She was in no mood to negotiate, she'd accept the terms James had lain. "James?" She poked her head back through the door, biting her lip again as they made eye contact. He was pulling a loose thread off his robe.

"Does Sirius..." She needn't continue as James understood, he shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Sirius wouldn't even notice if his shoelaces were untied."

* * *

><p>"Lily! Evelyn!" A grinning James emerged from the boy's staircase, running towards the two girls who were just about to leave the common room.<p>

"You have got to just wait a few seconds and see Sirius; Peter pranked him, threw a tub of cold water on him and then fled the dorms." Lily had seen Peter running out of the common room mere minutes before, a grin was plastered on his face as he had greeted them both a good morning. James was shaking with laughter.

Loud voices were already making their way down the stairs.

"Uhh." Evelyn glanced to the boy's dormitory door. "I'm starving." Her voice stammered. "I'm going to go down to eat now." She stuttered out a 'bye' and walked hastily to the exit of the common room. Then she was gone. Lily and James didn't have time to give each other a knowing glance, as now Sirius' loud and grumbling voice was heard along with the insistent and shrill voice of Remus'.

"_Sirius._"

There was a grunt and then a loud crash sound followed suit, as if someone had just fallen down a staircase. Sirius groaned as he moved his tie from his face and stood back up. Lily looked alarmed, glancing at James who pointed to Sirius' feet; he was wearing one shoe (which was untied) and on his other foot was only a black sock. His hair looked quite damp.

"For Merlin's sake," Remus emerged from the staircase, throwing the other shoe at Sirius' head, which hit its aim perfectly. "If you didn't sleep so much then you wouldn't need to rush right before breakfast! And Peter did you a favour."

Remus, unlike Sirius, was dressed smartly in his Gryffindor robes, with both his shoes on and tied. The sandy haired boy threw the other a glare as he swung along the banister, landing with a 'whoooosh' of his robes.

"Where's Evelyn and the others?" Remus asked after Sirius had successfully put on his shoe, tied it and did his tie up.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, scanning around the common room for the girl in question.

"Evelyn's already in the hall, along with everyone else." Came James' humoured reply. "Classes do start in thirty minutes, Sirius dear."

To say that Sirius was having a bad start was an incredible understatement. He sent James a rather rude hand gesture and stormed out of the common room, the rest of them following along, trying to hold back their snickers as Sirius almost tumbled on a trick step.  
>Even Peeves seemed to have no affect on him, the poltergeist had thrown water pellets at them and a group of unsuspecting first years. The boy just continued to storm towards the great hall, earning a bundle of insults and screeches from Peeves.<p>

"What's got your wand in a knot?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow as he slammed down his goblet of orange juice.

"Nothing." Sirius snapped. "I'm just peachy."

"Fine." She snapped back.

Sirius was about to snap a 'Don't snap at me!' but James cleared his throat, casting a glance between the two of them. They both quietened and continued to eat their breakfast in silence.

Gabriel, who was sitting a couple of seats away, called out to James. "Rowen's decided to already book the courts for practice during the Christmas holidays."

"We've got to stay here during winter break?!" James looked appalled and glared towards the oblivious Gryffindor captain who was innocently eating some toast with her fellow seventh year friends. "Mum had promised me she'd make chocolate cake."

"But that's like two months away still," Remus said, baffled. He didn't understand how people could be obsessed with the strange sport. "It's not even Halloween- "

"She's really set on Gryffindor winning the cup," Sirius said with his mouth open, his cereal and milk dribbling down his chin. "Since it's her last year and all." This was the first time Sirius had smiled the whole morning. "I think it's an excellent idea, not going home and staying in Hogwarts. Brilliant. I could kiss her... if I was dating anyways." He mumbled the last bit, sticking his tongue out at James.

"I guess." Came Gabriel's reply, he was already writing a letter to his folks, explaining that he wouldn't be able to attend the annual Acre's Christmas celebration.

"Say I'm not going either!" Evelyn threw a piece of toast at her brother, squealing in delight as it hit his forehead. When he scowled at her she shrugged innocently. "You think I want to be there by myself? Caleb's going to be in Cornwall so it'll just be mum, dad and Auntie Jo's lot. No way. I'm staying here too."

Gabriel shuddered, not wanting to remember the horrors of Auntie Jo's family. "Alright," He nodded. "I'll save you, sis."

She sent a thankful smile towards him and reeled back to the conversation her friends were having: Peter was going to have go back home anyways because a family member was sick, Remus' parents were busy so he was already going to stay at the castle and Sirius just could not contain his glee about now having an excuse to stay at Hogwarts. Lily didn't want to stay at her house because her sister, a snotty girl named Petunia who was two years Lily's senior, was bringing her fiance, a walrus of a man named Vernon Dursley, to the house and wanted to discuss wedding details with her parents. Vicky (as much as she wanted to stay because of Gabriel) had already promised to go on holiday with her family in Corfu to meet a Greek friend of hers. Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewitt sent each other a suggestive glance and then said at the same time 'I'm staying too'.

Breakfast gradually came to an end and the fifth years were relieved to see Sirius smiling again; a grumpy Sirius could last for days and he could become very rude and mean- according to James and Remus anyways.

Their first class was Herbology with the Ravenclaws.

"Fanged Geraniums can be dangerous," Sprout called out once all the students were paying attention. "Which is why you all have a pair of dragon-skin gloves AND a pair of goggles. Keep them both on for the entire lesson. If I see ANYONE taking off their gloves or goggles then they will receive a weeks detention."

The plump teacher went on and demonstrated how to take out the fangs (it was as simple as just pulling out the fangs with one hand and yet it was not simple at the same time. The plant was strong and could spit out poison that made the victim's skin erupt with blisters). "You'll need to work in pairs; one of you will pull out the fangs and the other will use their wands and '_accio' _the poison and bring it into these beakers." She jingled a glass beaker. "Then you add the fangs to the beaker as well, and let the two ferment until the end of class."

"That sounds like hell." James murmured to his classmates, each and every one of them looking at the teacher with dread; why couldn't Herbology be simple and easy again like second year when they re-potted mandrakes?

"That's just the start of it, Mister Potter." Sprout barked, she had a gleam in her eyes. "Whilst the fangs are fermenting," There was a groan throughout the greenhouse, "you need to get these bulbs." She pointed towards a strange white bubble which was located _inside _the mouth of the flower. "Take heed, even without the fangs these plants can give you a nasty bite. You need to grab the bulb quickly and then re-pot the bulb in the same pot, minding the roots of course, which don't like to be disturbed." She demonstrated again with so much ease that a few of the students thought it seemed easy. What a mistake.

"James, d'ya wanna- " Sirius was interrupted, rather rudely he thought, by James who instantly grabbed onto Lily's hand.

"I already have a partner." Lily blushed but still managed a glare at James.

Sirius looked startled. "_You're choosing Lily Evans over me?_"

James nodded, deadpanned. "Mate. Two reasons: I still haven't forgiven you yet for calling me a 'four eyed Quidditch arse' and secondly, I trust Lily a lot more than you in this greenhouse... I'm sure she will not want to loose house points, won't want to get a detention and most certainly will not want to mess around with dangerous liquid that gives you _boils_." He hissed the last word, straightening his tie. "I've got a face and a reputation to hold. Boils won't help me with that."

It seemed that a few of the Gryffindors agreed with James, and paired with someone else who was not Sirius Black. He scoffed and muttered something about 'house spirit'. "I can trust on you, can't I?" He sent a hopeful look towards Evelyn.

"I guess so..." She said rather relentlessly, but inside she was cheering and screaming and dancing around goofily as Sirius moved over to her table after grabbing two pairs of gloves and goggles from the store box.

"I don't feel comfortable grabbing onto a plant's fangs." She said quickly before he could say anything.

"Do you feel comfortable trying to get the poison into a beaker?"

"No."

"Great." Came his sarcastic reply. "Well," He messed with his hair and glanced around the room. "Since I have the Quidditch experience of being Beater... I probably have better reflexes than you... So, I'll do the uh," He motioned towards the beaker. "puss thing."

Evelyn took the fang out with ease and nodded her head with a smile as Sirius flicked his wand.

"Hey uh..." He started and scratched his head awkwardly. "Aaah nevermind." This seemed to be the first time that Sirius had ever faltered in speech and blushed at the same time whilst talking to her.

"How's your break from girls going?"

"Great actually, it gives me more time to work on pranks."

_Marvelous__, _Evelyn thought darkly.

"What about you?" This had to be one of the most awkward conversations ever.

"Fine."

"How's Ed treating you?"

She looked up, only to see Sirius viciously throwing the fang into a beaker.

"Uh," She shrugged her shoulders. "We're just friends..."

He only chuckled.

"Why are you asking me that anyway?"

"Am I not allowed to?" He watched as Evelyn grabbed onto the last fang and pulled it out with a lot of force. She slammed it onto the table.

"Well mind your own business."

Now it was Sirius' turn to angrily flick his wand, sending the liquid into the beaker so fast that it almost splashed onto the sides.

"Because he's my friend, that's why." He said after a few seconds.

"Well, I don't care."

"Well I do. He's my friend, I don't want you hurting his feelings or something. He's a real mate."

"Sirius, we're only friends. I'm not going to hurt him!"

* * *

><p>"Do you think they noticed what I was doing?" James asked, stealing a glance at the couple ahead of them, they seemed to be discussing something. Young love.<p>

Lily shook her head. "Nah but you need to be careful, don't be too obvious."

He promised he wouldn't and then poised his wand ready- waiting for Lily to reach out to grasp one of the fangs. The plant hissed and James forgot all about his wand, ducking quickly. He felt something whiz past his head and fire onto a Ravenclaw boy who suddenly screamed and clutched at his cheek.

He was about to ask the poor boy if he was okay when the plant fired again, this time hitting James in the face too. After letting out a few swear words he fell backwards and stumbled into the table behind them. A girl tried to catch her falling Geranium but failed, the plant hit the floor with a loud **BANG!** and the beaker full of puss flew into the air and went all over a girl. Everything was silent for a moment and the students thought the worst was now over... that was, until the plant started firing out like missiles of blistery puss and everyone suddenly ducked underneath their tables, screaming for help.

Sprout didn't seem to notice, she was wearing large ear-muffs and was tending to a strange silvery plant in the corner.

Amongst the screams of terrified students being victimised by the plants there now seemed to be a heated argument going on between the one and only Evelyn Acres and Sirius Black.

It was only when Evelyn slapped Sirius on the cheek that Sprout looked up. And she was livid.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you slapped him."<p>

Evelyn scowled. "He was being an absolute arsehole. I mean, you and James sent yourselves and _seven students_ to the hospital wing because of that bloody plant. All I did was slap him and _I_ got a detention."

"She saw you perform a violent act, Ev..." Lily sent a worried glance over to her friend. "What did he say? It must have been something bad for you to do that... you like him a lot."

She only sniffed and messed with the corner of her robes. "He was just being such an arse."

Lily bit her lip. "You landed him in detention too, you know. Don't you think you should apologise to him or-"

She could have said 'no', but instead Evelyn refused to listen to any more and stomped out of the dormitory. She mumbled out that she'd be late for her detention and left without another word. Lily glanced towards the clock, she was heading there an hour early.

"Where is everybody?" The only fifth years she found in the Common room, the majority being a dozen third years who were discussing Divination and about how one of them was apparently supposed to be dying this year, were James and Frank.

Frank shrugged. "I know Sirius is in detention and Remus is at the library but I dunno about the others." Lily had a nasty feeling that Vicky was probably somewhere in a broom closet with Gabriel.

"I'm so bored!" James complained as he stretched. The edges of his shirt rose slightly and Lily forced herself to look away, a blush threatening to colour her cheeks.

"Homework?" Lily sat down next to Frank.

"I've done it all. I had a free period and I was seriously so bored that I did it all. Out of boredom."

"I've just got to finish off this damn essay," Frank grumbled, blotches of ink were smudged onto his face and hands. "I hate Transfiguration so much... Lily does this sound right to you?"

After correcting a small error in the essay, Frank gave Lily a grateful smile. "You're a lifesaver, Lily. I'm beat. Off to bed, methinks. Night."

Panic rose in her chest and she silently begged Frank to stay longer, but he turned away to the dorms and began to climb the stairs. James gave out another sigh as he stared into the fireplace.

"Third years are rowdy tonight, aren't they?" He sent a glare towards them.

"They had Divination, I think. They're probably freaking out because they got scary prophecies."

They listened in on their conversation for a bit, amusing themselves with the worried chatter that apparently someone knew someone who knew someone who had had Divination last year and that someone owned a toad who died and the Professor had foreseen it.

"How about that favour?" James asked.

"Now? It's a little late, isn't it?"

"Nah." James waved a hand. "You won't get in trouble. I promise."

"What's the favour?"

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be invisible?"

Lily huffed. "Really now. What sort of a question is that? Just tell me the damn favour an I'll do it!"

"Just answer the question," James said rather calmly.

Lily was silent for a few seconds. "I suppose so, yes. It would be rather interesting."

James clapped his hands, grinning.

"James Potter the _magnificent _has the power to make one invisible?"

"No. But I have something that does. Wait here a sec." He ran towards the staircase and was gone. The third year students were still there but their conversation had died (how ironic) somewhat and the majority of them were now yawning and debating whether or not to go to bed. Their decision was made when one of the boys reminded them all about their History of Magic test, Lily applauded him for this in her mind. That sent the students into another frenzy and one by one they raced back to their dorms in the hope of being able to squeeze in some last minute revision.

"Everyone's gone now?"

That was odd. Lily could hear James speaking, it sounded like he was stood just in front of her. But he wasn't there.

"Potter?" She called out, her voice shaking. Suddenly he appeared out of nowhere, like magic. He had taken off some sort of cloak that was now wrapped around his arm. He sent her a grin.

"You! You- You were just invisible."

"Indeed, I was."

"But... how? What is that?"

James handed her the cloak and watched with a smile as she tested it out, amazed at how it made her leg turn invisible.

"What's the favour then?" She asked once she had calmed down from all the excitement.

"Nothing too lavish for now." He shrugged. "I just thought it'd be cool to walk around the castle for a bit and then fly."

"But we'll be seen!"

"Nope. We'll be invisible. Now doesn't that sound like fun, eh? Being invisible around the castle and then flying and being invisible too?"

Lily couldn't deny the sense of excitement that was running through her. She listened intently as James mentioned the do's and the don'ts and then threw the cloak over them both.

"You need to come closer than that," He mumbled and gently gripped onto her elbow so that she was stood in front of him. She could feel his hot breath on her back and was worried that he might be able to hear her rapid heart beat since they seemed so close.

"Are you always spooning Sirius when it's you two under here?"

She could tell James had blushed as he mumbled something under his breath. "The cloak's actually big enough to hold five people under it." He said, he put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward gently. They went through the exit. "But for that to work everyone needs to be in perfect sync and that took me and the others months to perfect. I don't want you clumsily letting your ankle be seen by Filch or Mrs Norris so it's easier this way."

They walked in silence around the halls until James felt more relaxed and was able to tell Lily all about the secret passageways and cool paintings that graced the halls. Lily was baffled, it seemed like she didn't even know or understand Hogwarts at all now.

"Do you want to fly for a bit then?"

They were stood by a painting of a teapot.

"Well," Lily fumbled with her hands and turned around to face him. "I can't... well, I can't fly."

He sent her a grin. "I know. I saw you in our first flying lesson, you were bloody awful." He assured her that they could share a broom, his new broom was a Cleansweep 400 and could easily fit two people on it.

"Come on Lily." He egged on. "What's life without a little risk? There's no point having a life and doing nothing extraordinary." Lily had a feeling that he was right and somehow allowed herself to be pushed into the secret entrance. After a short walk they were by the grounds.

"Now hold on!" He kicked off the broom lightly and whizzed around the fields. Lily had never realised how pretty the grounds of Hogwarts were; you could see the forbidden forest go on for miles and miles and to the east there were the vast hills and valleys. The night sky was a pretty dark blue with a few stars twinkling out like lanterns. She'd never felt so happy or relaxed doing something that was against school rules.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

Lily could only nod, the wind was blowing against her but she knew James was able to fly against the slight turbulence. It seemed like only seconds later that James landed and Lily was almost tempted to ask for another go, but she stopped herself. Time was ticking on and she still had classes to attend in the morning.

They walked back in a comfortable silence.

"That was... exhilarating." She couldn't even speak properly as they entered the common room. "Thank you so much!" Her cheeks were red from all the excitement and her body was still rushing with adrenaline that she leaped onto James and engulfed him in a hug. He smelt like... she couldn't even put her finger on it? Like a fresh breath of air, so relaxing and comforting that she could have stayed in his arms forever. She felt his hands go around her waist and he buried his face into her hair.

"No problem," He said. "Thanks for doing the favour."

Before she could stop herself she kissed him quickly on the lips and then ran with all her might towards the dormitory. Tiredness was creeping onto her but she forced herself to get dressed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before letting her body succumb to the soft and comfy fortress of her duvet. She was just about to fall asleep when she licked her lips.

She had kissed James Potter. Her heart leapt and it felt like butterflies had erupted all around her. She had kissed him. It had only been a slight peck, and she had done it before she had even realised. Maybe James hadn't realised either? She closed her eyes briefly and replayed the moment again. She tingled just thinking about it. Even on this cold, blustery late September night she felt warm.

* * *

><p><strong>So sorry it took so long to update! It's been busy here, my Grandma's not well and neither is my Granddad and we're preparing for a wedding and there's been a lot of practices with the church band so it's been hectic! PLEASE REVIEW! I'd really appreciate it! Until the next chapter~~ and sorry for any mistakes- I'll try and read through it tomorrow and change anything that catches my attention.<strong>

**COOKIES FOR PEOPLE WHO REVIEW. **


	5. Fastforward

**Thanks for the review, TheProductivePurplePrincess! You're right, Lily and James DO get together in seventh year. They're not together yet, their story will progress along with Sirius and Evelyn. Thank you! and goodness sharkswillruledaWORLD, you are a star! Thank you SO SO SO much for your reviews! Gah, you're making me blush!**

**I know I go through a few months like really really fast in this chapter... but hopefully it's alright?**

**Chapter Five;**

**"nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary." - Henry David Thoreau**

_"Mudblood."_

_Lily's insides quivered with fear, her heart booming out against her chest in a slow pace. _

_Bellatrix Black was walking towards her, a devilish smile plastered on her. Her hair was wild and danced, windswept, even though there was no breeze to carry it. Lily felt the cold stone of the wall behind her, she was trapped. She gulped and grasped for her wand, but it was gone._

_She tried to speak out, to call for help, to scream out for somebody or anybody. Her mouth was open in fear but no words came out. Black laughed, the shrill octaves piercing through her. Courage and bravery, the very things that had brandished her a daughter of Gryffindor, collapsed like a ton of bricks._

_"Lily!" James was running towards her and when he was a few inches away smiled at her. "I got them!" He said gleefully. _

_Lily didn't know what he was on about, could he not see that Black was there with her wand poised and ready for attack?! She watched, baffled, as James rummaged in his pockets and brought out a golden balloon. He started to blow it up, his face beetroot red as he found it difficult to breathe. _

_"Oh," He said in between blows, "didn't see you there, Bella." He nodded towards Black and smiled and then went back to his balloon. Once it was blown up he handed it to Lily. She took it, puzzled._

_"It's for you!" He said, clearly excited. _

__Black _sniffed. "I don't know why you're giving her a present," She seethed. "After she kissed you like that. Disgusting little mudblood."_

_Then James did something unthinkable. He grabbed onto Lestrange and their lips met furiously into a passionate kiss. She could hear James moaning in ecstasy and Black breathing heavily. Her heart felt hard, it had stopped beating and yet she was still stuck there. _

_She was still unable to speak but watched, horrified, as James agreed with the Slytherin. He snatched the balloon back. "Yeah," He smirked. "Why would I want you to kiss me?"_

_She wanted to scream out for James to get a grip. Why are you like this?! Her feet wouldn't move, she couldn't scream out and instead was forced to stay on the spot and watch as James and Bellatrix Black skipped hand in hand down the corridor. _

"Lily! Lily!" Her world was shaking, someone was calling out her name.

"What... ?" She woke up, dazzled by the harsh light in the dorm. Faces were looking down at her, worried.

"Are you alright?" Came the distressed voice of one roommate, Melissa Bennett. "You were burning up, we thought you were having a fit or something."

"It was just a nightmare." Thank God, Lily thought as she fumbled with her duvet, she could speak!

The other girls breathed out a sigh of relief and got back to getting ready. Evelyn, however, asked her again quietly if she was really okay. Lily had only nodded.

It was after a few silent minutes, when Lily gave out a final sigh, that she turned to Evelyn and bit her lip in worry. "I have something to tell you," She said, lowering down her voice to a whisper. "I... I accidentally kissed James last night."

Eyes wide, mouth open and hairbrush suddenly dropping to the floor, Evelyn managed to choke out a- "_What?" _

"By accident!" Lily smacked her forehead, still not believing her own actions. "I was saying thanks to him and I just... it must have been all the excitement or something and I just did it. I wasn't thinking! What was I thinking?"

"Maybe he won't think anything of it?" Evelyn said weakly.

"How could he not?" Lily was now out of bed and was getting out her uniform. "I mean, he was stuck to the spot when I left. He must have been repulsed by me! We'd been having such a good time, laughing like mates and then I had to go and ruin it!"

"_Will you just relax?_"

"I can't." Lily hissed, sending Evelyn a menacing glare. "I don't even know why I told you about it. You're always teasing me."

"Because I'm your best friend, Lils." She rolled her eyes and buttoned up her shirt, checking out if her tie was wonky in the mirror before giving her reflection a firm nod. "And best friends tell their best friends when they kiss someone, ok?"

"Best friends also tell their best friends about detentions with their crushes."

Evelyn's ears turned red. She coughed. "I... Nothing happened."

"Bullshit."

It was Evelyn's turn to now check around the room, Vicky was just leaving to get a good seat for breakfast and Cynthia had followed her, saying she needed to speak to Marlene Mckinnon about Divination. When the door shut she leaped upwards.

"All we did was... talk."

"Talk?"

Evelyn nodded. "I apologised and he said sorry too."

"Are you ever going to tell me what he said to you?"

"He sort of implied..." She found it hard to explain something even she didn't know fully herself. She waved her arms around as she talked and pulled on a sock. "That I was acting like a 'frigid bitch' and that I needed to be nicer to Eddie because he was perfect for me."

Lily didn't know what to say, she watched as her friend turned pink and pulled on her shoes harshly. "Oh Evelyn..." She said softly. Her friend sniffled.

"But we're friends and bonded over our hatred for cleaning and polishing trophies. So it's all good."

To their relief they found the Common Room Sirius and James less, the group of boys must have already gone down for breakfast. Evelyn had told Lily to relax and that James would be happy to see her, and Lily had replied back with 'Sirius will act fine around you now, don't be nervous.' Their pep talk towards each other was fine until they were walking towards the Gryffindor table and noticed the boys in a very in depth discussion.

They sat a few seats away from them happy to fall into the discussion of classes with Marlene and Cynthia and soon it felt like their troubles had melted away.

* * *

><p>"God," Sirius yawned, trying to keep his eyes open as he stared into the ball. "I can't see a bloody thing."<p>

James murmured in agreement and turned to see Peter and Remus discussing what the colour red could possibly interpret as.

"Broaden your minds!" Came the voice of their Professor, Frank bolted awake and pretended to be immersed at the ball.

"What can you see?" Professor Core asked happily to him.

"Uh.." He sent a worried glance to Sirius. "Mist?"

"And..." Sirius pretended to point to something and then ruffled through his book, his eyes falling onto a picture of stars. "Stars."

Core nodded her head, muttering 'yes, yes excellent, go on go on'. She turned now to James.

"And uh a..." He scratched his head. "A balloon? This uh," He bit the side of his quill. "mist is obviously the symbol of an upcoming event, an event that we won't be able to see until it happens... and the stars are resembling uh... hope? That that... despite this mist we have ... stars."

Sirius was shaking with silent laughter and Frank thumped him, they both nodded and joined Core in their interested 'oohhh's and 'aaah's.

"Excellent," Core beamed, "take 10 points to Gryffindor." They watched as she walked away.

"Did we seriously just get 10 points for lying under our arses?" Frank sniggered, wiping his eyes which had become wet with tears.

"I do believe we did. Job well done, mate."

For the second half of the class they each had to predict their future through recent events that had taken place in their dreams. Sirius predicted that James would somehow eat a dirty pair of socks. They were extremely happy when their day had finished.

"I wish OWLs were over already." Sirius plonked himself down next to the fire in the common room and refused to budge up for Remus. The boy sighed and instead sat on his lap, Sirius ignored him when Remus joked '_giddy-up horsey!_'.

"At least there's the Halloween feast to look forward to," James said, trying to lift the heavy atmosphere between them; everyone was so tired and drained from their lessons. "Food's bound to cheer us all up a tad."

"Speaking of cheering up," Peter said as he took out his almost finished Herbology essay, "why have you been looking so sad today?"

"I'm not sad!" James said.

"Nah, yeah I've noticed too. You looked like a right baby during breakfast."

James glared at Remus.

"Tell tell tell."

James sighed. "I..." He looked terrible as he messed up his hair. "I think Lily thinks I'm her brother."

"Oh?" Sirius looked up from his essay, suddenly interested. He quickly turned to see Lily, Evelyn and the rest of the girls playing a round of exploding snap. The girl didn't seem to be ill.

James lowered his voice and leaned forward. "She kissed me last night."

"Mate, that does not mean she sees you as her bro-"

"But it wasn't like a romantic kiss!" He interrupted Peter angrily. "She did it just as she was leaving, it was like a kiss an older sister gives her baby brother. Or what you'd give to your Grandpa when you leave him with his Sunday roast."

The boys looked baffled and watched as James huffed out and crossed his legs angrily. "Look at her, she looks fine. Not like she just broke my heart and our friendship."

"I'm sure you're just overreacting," Sirius said hurriedly, patting his shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "Lily's a mate and..." He struggled to find words to help his friend. "Yeah."

After a few minutes of sitting in silence they decided it'd be best to head up to their dorm and give themselves an early night. James dreamed of an amazing Halloween feast, the chicken being tender and juicy and salty and the pumpkin juice being so sweet that it tickled when he swallowed. He woke up in the morning so calm and at ease.

"Yesterday you were sad and now you're chipper, are you alright?" Sirius rose an eyebrow as James happily skipped towards the Great Hall.

"I'm just excited for the Halloween feast. It's going to be amazing, chicken and pigs in blankets and toad in the hole! I can almost smell it now!"

* * *

><p>"James been getting kinda distressed." Was the first thing Sirius said to Evelyn as he slid onto his Potions stool. He got out his book and propped his elbows on the desk, nodding his head towards the awkward couple who were politely telling each other 'good morning'.<p>

"Yeah?" She fumbled around with her book.

"He thinks Lily despises him."

She stopped fidgeting at once and turned around with a chuckle. "What? You're kidding."

"I kid you not. What's going on with them?"

She sighed and watched as Slughorn entered the classroom, explaining how today they would be discussing the properties of different potions. She lowered her voice as he scribbled down the date.

"She thought he'd take the kiss the wrong way and be angry with her. She certainly doesn't hate him."

"You know what this means?"

She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Sirius' face was so close to hers, she could feel her heartbeat racing.

"Operation Hogsmeade: get Lily and James so wasted that they get over their awkwardness and become buddies again."

"I dunno if making them tipsy is a good idea..."

"Not tipsy, my dear, utterly and absolutely smashed and hammered."

"Alcohol would not help in this situation, they just need to sit down and talk to each other."

He sighed dramatically and placed a hand on her shoulder, "My dear Evelyn," She blushed violently at this, "Alcohol is always the answer and helps with everything."

She didn't know what to say in response, so turned her attention back to the lesson. Sirius wouldn't go that far, would he? She had a sickly feeling in her stomach but decided to not let it worry here She had exams to think about.

Transfiguration made the students restless, it was the last lesson of the day and this meant that when it was over the school would be having their annual Halloween feast. McGonagall took five points from Hufflepuff when she found a student snoring in her class and another five from a Gryffindor.

All in all, it took the class more than forty minutes to change their dinner plates to mushrooms. When the bell rang, signifying the start to dinner, Sirius jogged towards James.

"How about," He said in an excited voice "we have a Christmas party before we finish the term? Give everyone a break from classes and let their hair down?"

James only nodded his head, muttering out a 'yeah, sounds good', before he walked glumly down the stairs.

"Or we could get some butterbeer and firewhiskey and have a mini party in the common room? Invite say hmm I dunno, Lily and her mates?"

James didn't even bat an eyelid. He only 'mmm'd again and nodded his head.

"And after that we could all change into some pink bras and underwear and run around the grounds and chase Snape and give him hugs and kisses?"

"Sounds fantastic." Was James's automatic response again and Sirius glared at the back of James- who decided to walk faster so he would be on his own. Something needed to be done.

The Halloween feast seemed to cheer James up a bit, even more so when Lily was pushed by Remus into the seat next to him.

"Good evening," She stammered as her butt hit the wooden bench.

James was about to comment on how beautiful she looked when the gigantic mass of owls swooped down through the hall. Newspapers and letters and packages were distributed, one student got a howler from his Grandma about misplacing a cat.

Lily and James had been reading a newspaper together, commenting about the Quidditch league so far when Evelyn let out an annoyed sigh. She was reading a letter. Sirius, who was sat next to her, snatched the letter out of her hands and read it. He gave it back almost immediately, looking guilty and bit out a weak 'sorry'.

"What's up?" Lily asked. She was handed the letter.

_Gabriel has informed me that he is staying at Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays because of Quidditch. He also stated that you would be staying there as well. Since you are not on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, nor are you a reserve, I don't see why you would need to stay as well. You will be on the Hogwarts Express on the last day of term and join the family in our Christmas celebrations. The cousins and the rest of the family are coming as well as Grandmother Ethel and Grandfather Richard; it would be rude if you weren't there. **No exceptions.**_

_Mum and Dad._

"That's a bit harsh of them." James said with a frown, "It's not like they can force you."

"They sort of can," Evelyn smiled sadly. "They're my parents after all."

"You're not going to obey them are you?"

She sent Sirius a glare and shrugged her shoulders, her appetite quickly dissolving away as it turned into humility and shame instead. "If I don't they'll be angry..."

"It's your life and your holiday," Sirius insisted almost angrily, "you can spend it how you damn well please. Screw them."

"Sirius is obviously the epitome of the perfect son," Remus remarked with a snort. "But I agree, Evelyn. It's your holiday, do what you want. What's the worst they could do?"

Evelyn could have easily answered the question, but decided not to. She just simply shrugged. Dumbledore stood up and announced that the Halloween feast would begin. The lights dimmed and a band of dancing skeletons sang a song before the tables were filled with delicious foods.

"I'm sorry." Lily said in a whisper to James once the feast was fully under way.

"For what?" James managed to say from all his chewing of chicken and mash potato.

She looked restless. "For..." She cleared her throat. "You uh know, the thing I did after we flew? I... I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean it in a bad way."

His eyes widened. "Oh God," Now that his food was fully swallowed he reached for his goblet. "Don't be sorry... I erm overreacted. We're friends yeah?" He couldn't help but feel an emptiness in his chest as he stumbled out the words. The emptiness grew even more as Lily nodded her friend and repeated the word.

* * *

><p>The weather slowly grew colder and colder. A chilly north wind raged over the castle over a number of days and brought along with it countless rain and thunder storms. It became the norm to hear the screeching of the wind through the windows in class, the rattle it made against the glass and the groan of the trees as they were pushed back and forth.<br>The teachers made the fifth year students busy with essays and countless tests and it seemed like when November finally came everyone (including the teachers) was counting down the days until the Christmas holidays.

"Only four weeks until we're in December." Remus said painfully as they finished another day of essays and lessons and wand wavings.

"But then there's still another two weeks of school after that," Sirius complained as he lay dramatically on a chair in the library. "I hate this term. It takes forever."

"Don't wish it away too quickly." Remus placed another book into Sirius' arms, the two were getting out the books they needed for essays. Sirius had never worked so much in his life. "Once Christmas holidays are over we'll be really close the OWL examinations, and then after that it's sixth year and then after that it's the _you know what_."

"The day that time stands still?"

"I meant NEWTs, you idiot."

"You did know I was joking, right Moony?"

"Don't use that name here... people could hear us."

Sirius rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently. "Do hurry up," He snapped, watching as his friend picked up another book. "We're missing dinner you know."

"You said you'd help and that you wanted to do better on your school work." Remus pointed out with a slight chuckle.

"I know," Sirius moaned and placed the books down by the nearest table. "But it's just I'm hungry."

"Well, to take your mind off the hunger, try and find that Quidditch book James has been going on about will you? It's near aisle 11 I think."

Aisle 11 was right at the back of the library, but Sirius didn't care. The hunger was driving him mad and so he jogged as fast as he could get away with and started to look past books to find the one they needed. He found it eventually and was going to leave when he saw, placed in the very far corner, a table with someone sat at it. And not just someone, Evelyn. And, she looked sad, which somehow in turn made Sirius... sad. He stared at her numbly for a brief second, wondering on why he suddenly stopped.

Sirius kicked the ground with his feet and checked to see what the other people in the library were doing. The librarian was furiously stamping books right at the front and a few students were engrossed in their books or essays to notice someone crying. He rolled his eyes, hit his head and then awkwardly walked towards her. With every step came a drastic rumble from the beating of his heart and he didn't know if he should walk faster or slower towards her- the painful beating was... confusing and yet alluring at the same time.

"You err you alright there?" He'd need to hit himself with a hard and heavy Charms book later; it was obvious she was far from alright.

She lifted her head and jumped slightly at how close his face was to her shoulder. "Oh Sirius." She wiped her eyes quickly. "I didn't see you there."

"I asked if you were alright." He took a step back and stood there for a second before quickly placing his hands into his pockets. He'd never done something like this before.

"Smashing, thanks." She sniffed and wiped her red eyes with her sleeve.

"Now, how come I can detect sarcasm?" He asked with a wry smile. He watched as she stood up and got hold of her bag.

"Probably because it was sarcastic." It was amazing how just the sight of Sirius could lighten her heart and make her feel in a better mood. "I was just um worrying about what I'll do over Christmas break, that's all."

"Still?" He ignored her glare and took hold of her bag, putting it over his shoulder. He started to walk towards Remus and she reluctantly followed. After handing Remus the Quidditch book he motioned for Evelyn to follow him. She hesitantly obeyed.

"I told you, you should stay here. It's your decision."

"I just don't want to disappoint them even more... I mean, Christmas is supposed to be family time and..."

"Rubbish. Look at me, do I give a toss about what my family do? _No. _Blimey, I made sure I was on the Quidditch team JUST because it'd annoy them."

"Really?!"

Sirius nodded. "Look, Evelyn... I want you to stay over Christmas." He grabbed her hand quickly and held it. "I really want to spend it with you! Every other Christmas someone's not been here and there's been things going on... but this is the year where you and I ... where everyone is here and we can all enjoy being together."

"I'll think about it." She promised.

"Great!" They both fell into a steady pace as they walked towards the common room, chatting together like old friends.

* * *

><p>Soon December crept along and the weather changed once again, the rain had been and gone and was replaced with a chilly frost that stayed throughout the day. The grass became crisp and the grounds froze. Studying had become the students top priority and Lily and Remus were proud to see their friends studying and working hard on their exams. Course, they did this only because after the term they'd have a massive party to celebrate no more lessons.<p>

One night Evelyn was walking back from the library, after doing a long study session, to the Gryffindor common room. The corridor was dimly lit, it was well passed night time now, with the portraits snoozing in their frames. They sent Evelyn disgruntled glares as she passed them with her wand, it shining bright. She had never liked walking around the castle at night, especially on her own.

"Acres."

Stood in front of her was a smirking Flint with his own wand blazing out a very powerful _lumos maxima. _This was the very reason why she hated walking alone at night. Creeps lurked about.

"Flint." She tried to act cool and brave like the Gryffindor she should be. Her wand hand was shaking and she knew that Flint had noticed. Knowing your victim is worried just makes it _easier_. "We had a deal." She said.

"Relax, Acres." Flint laughed, it sending shivers all the way up her body. "I'm not here to curse you. When a Slytherin keeps their word they keep it." It didn't sound very reassuring to her.

"Then what do you want?"

"Bella wants a favour from you."

She shuddered, ready to stand her ground. But the moment never came; Sirius was running down the corridor towards her, a blank piece of parchment sticking out of his hoodie pocket. He pulled out his wand.

"What's going on?" He seethed, anger shaking his voice so much that Flint actually took a step back.

He put out his hands defensively. "I only wanted to talk to her about something."

"Yeah? Well you can bugger off and speak to her when there's people around. Don't think I won't hex you. Here, right now." It was evident in his voice and intense glare that Sirius Black was not joking. With a slight roll of his eyes Flint moved away, slipping into the shadows and soon was gone.

Evelyn let out a deep breath.

"Are you okay?"

He had expected her to be screaming her thanks over the rooftops, instead she was giving him a pointed look.

"I didn't need your help, you know."

He chuckled, unsure if he was hearing her correctly. "You what?"

"I was doing fine on my own!" She said louder now, so loud that a few portraits grumbled. It was enough to make the two start their walk back to the common room, arguing to each other in annoyed whispers.

"Well it didn't look like it. You needed my help."

"_Excuse me_? I needed YOUR help? Since when did I become a damsel who needs rescuing?"

Now she was indebted to Bellatrix Black and that was not a good thing. And it was all Sirius's fault.

"No... _fuck _wait up!" Evelyn was walking as fast as she could muster, trying to get away from him. Sirius was a lot taller and caught up with her easily. He grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled her towards him gently.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That was all."

"Why?" She folded her arms against her chest and lifted up her chin, staring coolly into his gorgeous grey eyes.

"What do you mean?" He chuckled.

"I mean," She said hotly, "why did you even bother doing this? Why are you doing this?"

"Because we're mates and I..." He drummed his fingers against the wall all the while breathing heavily. They were now directly in front of the fat lady who was watching them both intently. He shrugged. "I know Flint because of my family and he's... he's bad, Evelyn. Awful. I wouldn't want you to get messed around in those sort of things. And I was meeting someone. I was on my way back to the common room and I heard yours and Flint's voice. I thought you were in trouble."

Too late, she wanted to say; but the knot in her stomach was so tight that it left her almost breathless. "Well," Her voice faltered. "Thanks for your concern... but I can look after myself. _Lionheart."_

The portrait opened.

"Also I..."

"You what? Huh? Are you angry at me or something? Going to tell me off now?"

"No." He let out an exasperated groan and shut his eyes briefly. "No. You know what, forget it. Never mind."

He was gone before she could even register what happened. Her insides were still quivering as she went to sleep that night.

"It's Hogsmeade tomorrow, isn't it?" Eddie, who was a bit preoccupied with eating his corn flakes, nodded the best he could at Evelyn, who was sat beside him with a boiled egg and a cup of tea. She nodded.

"Do you have any plans yet?" Evelyn felt her cheeks redden at his question. She hadn't been able to spend as much time as she would have liked with Eddie, what with all the preparation they were both doing for the upcoming essays and exams. The only time they had been able to meet was in the common room and in the great hall.

She shook her head. "Not really. You?"

"Nope... do you wanna go together? I mean, if you want to of course. Cos, if you don't I mean- that's fine but-"

"I'd love to." She said quickly, noticing how Sirius had just sat down next to Eddie.

"What what?" He asked, picking up a piece of toast. He smiled at her, obviously not angry towards her (this made Evelyn relieved).

"Just about Hogsmeade. Got a girl yet?"

Sirius only waved his hand dismissively at Eddie's question. "Uh... no. I was actually going to ask someone but I ah... never got around to it."

Eddie looked surprised. "Wow. That's not like you, mate. Well, I think a few of the lads are just going to head out if you wanted to join in on that."

Sirius nodded and muttered out a thanks.

Suddenly Peter shrieked that it was snowing outside, at this the majority of students glanced upwards at the ceiling and cheered, the conversation died out and was replaced with everyone chattering on about Christmas.

The classes went by all too quickly, probably being because the majority of teachers had Christmas themed lessons and were actually fun and enjoyable for once, and soon (all too soon) Evelyn found herself once again stood in front of her wardrobe the next morning, at a loss as to what to wear for the Hogsmeade trip.

Luckily for her, Lily and Vicky were brilliant and got her a pretty outfit that suited her perfectly. Soon enough she followed her mates down into the common room, surprised to see Sirius sat down by the fire.

"Hullo girls." He said hurriedly, a slight tinge of red on his cheeks. "How are you, Evelyn?"

"Okay..." She stammered. "You? Are you going to Hogsmeade?" She noticed how Lily and Vicky had suddenly ran out of the common room, giggling.

Sirius got off the sofa and gave her a stare. "Yeah," He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "About that... I was wondering if you uh... wanted to go together?"

It felt like a building had collapsed on top of her and she was unable to move or feel. "Oh..."

"Yeah, I know it's super late of me to ask and I was _going _to uh ask you last night but... obviously you know, I wasn't able to because of yeah... but I was wondering if you wanted to ... if you wanted to."

"Sirius..." She couldn't describe this horrible feeling, and looking at his hopeful face made her want to cry. "I'm so sorry but... Eddie asked me at breakfast... you, y-you were there."

He was silent for a few seconds and she watched his face closely, hoping to see what he was feeling, but he only nodded his head firmly. "Ah," Was the only thing he uttered before he gave her a small nod and walked out of the common room.

She called out for his name but he didn't hear her (or refused to listen). He was going to ask her last night? That was why he had found her? And she had been so angry at him! Oh, if only she had just shut her mouth for a minute and heard what he wanted to say...

Feeling angry at herself, and Sirius - it was his fault, after all, for not asking her sooner, she stomped towards the Great Hall and begrudgingly sat down next to Lily. She ignored her friend's inquisitive wink and ignored the way Sirius was laughing, as if nothing had just happened, with Peter.

"There you are!" Eddie jumped up from behind her and sent her a dazzling smile. "You alright?"

"Fine..." Her voice was shaking. She didn't feel fine. What was she supposed to feel? Why did she feel so guilty, she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Great! I was wondering if you wanted to grab breakfast in Hogsmeade? There's a really nice cafe that do Pumpkin Pasties and nice warm butterbeer." She most certainly did not want to see Sirius again now, and so quickly accepted Eddie's offer.

"What do you mean '_Dane Clare from Hufflepuff asked me to Hogsmeade_'?!"

"Exactly that, James."

"But... he... what? I thought you said you were going to tag along with me and look at the new quills and broomsticks!"

Lily sighed. "I said I '_might be able to'_. But seeing as Dane asked me to go with him, I might as well take up his offer, right?"

He tried not to blink as he stared hard at his toast. "But," How could he say this without sounding like a butt-hurt boyfriend? "I thought... you know, that I had asked you and yeah...?"

"James, you don't understand. This is Dane!" Lily jabbed her spoon onto his shoulder. "Hufflepuff's dreamboat! His gorgeous blue eyes and that dazzling smile asked me, Lily Evans the resident red-head, to Hogsmeade and it made me feel special. Okay? I need to go anyways, he's meeting me at half past! See ya."

"But I asked you!" He said angrily, but she was already walking away. He swore and threw some butter onto his bread and ferociously started to spread it, cursing himself as he did so.

* * *

><p>Eddie's lip were surprisingly soft. Yep, you heard right. Eddie and Evelyn were stood underneath some mistletoe. After awkwardly asking the other if it was okay, the two had cautiously brought their faces closer and closer until their lips met suddenly.<p>

_Wet_ was the first thing that came to Evelyn's mind. His arms were tenderly placed on her waist and he gently nibbled on her bottom lip before placing a series of soft kisses one after the other onto her. She felt exhilarated, her heart slowly beating like time was slowing down and they were stuck in the moment forever.

The kiss ended and the mistletoe twinkled before disappearing. They immediately started giggling.

"That was my first kiss." She blushed.

"Merlin, I'm so.. so sorry that it had to be me."He cleared his throat and sent her a worried look. "Was it uh, okay?"

"I guess so? No it was good. Yes, good."

"You don't have to lie."

"I'm not lying! I don't have much experience, none in fact..." She was dazed. Slightly because she was still recovering from it being her first kiss, secondly because she was now finding Eddie quite attractive and thirdly because she was quite saddened at the fact that it hadn't been Sirius she had shared it with.

"We could um. Try again if you wanted?"

"We could."

Silence.

"Would you want to?"

The question caught her off guard. Did she? It had felt nice, to feel someone like that? To be close physically and emotionally. After a minute of contemplating the pros and cons, she nodded her head. Meeting Eddie's lips again was like running your hands through the pages of a book you just couldn't put down. This kiss was more bold. It didn't last long again, something that Evelyn was actually quite relieved about, she didn't know how she felt kissing for goodness knows how long whilst other people could be watching.

As it ended he took hold of her hand and squeezed it. "Evelyn I... I really like you a lot."

Her cheeks blushed and it felt like she was sitting on the sun, a hot flush wavered over her. Someone liked her? A boy! Someone actually liked her.

"But..."

That wasn't a good sign, she thought with a frown. His grip around her hand tightened slightly as he rattled his brain for the right words.

"But," He repeated again, more confidently. "I'm going to be doing NEWTs next year and I know that I want to study for them as best as I can. If I asked you to be my girlfriend right now, and oh god I really want to ask you..." He smiled slightly. "If I did then we'd have an amazing Christmas, right? We'd be snug together like two birds and that's brilliant. But then what would happen when the new year starts? You'll be studying for your OWLs and in seventh year I've got NEWTs and it'd both tire us out."

"I don't get what you're saying." His bottom lip was being chewed to a pulp by his upper lip, his hand dropped hers as he scratched his head.

He looked worried. "I'm worried that I won't give you the attention and the type of relationship that I know you deserve... ugh fucking hell this isn't coming out right." He breathed out, trying to steady his voice. "I mean, I'm not exactly a great person and I want you to know that before something happens. We might not even be right together it's just all I know is that you're amazing and leave me breathless and I want you to be happy more than anything. And so," He clapped his hands, sending her what he hoped was a happy smile. "if you graduate Hogwarts and haven't found anyone... I'd... uh be more than happy to take you out for dinner and show you around Yorkshire."

She had to giggle at that. "After graduation? That's years away, Eddie..."

"Then we have a few years to see what happens." He shrugged simply. "I don't want to rush you and make you do things you don't want to do. You need to find out what you want."

She found it impossible how her admiration for Eddie just got higher and higher, so much that it would have easily filled a volt in Gringgot's Bank.

Then, after promising that she would notify him of her whereabouts after she graduated, they both proceeded towards a small shop near the Hogs Head where Eddie bought a few bottles of firewhiskey and butterbeer.

"They're for the party tonight." He told her after he picked up his new shopping bags. "Are you going to go to it?"

"I don't know yet... I want to but it's just..." She shrugged. "I've never really been one for parties."

"Now that you mention it, I've never seen you at the parties. Ever! You know, if you had made an appearance to one of them we would have met ages ago."

"They're not really my scene." She had imagined herself going to the parties an endless amount of times. Being Sirius' date, holding onto his arm dearly as they passed from one group to the next, laughing and talking and teasing together. She had also imagined herself tipsy; never been in the state herself, it seemed rather interesting to guess what she'd be like drunk. She imagined cool and demure, drinking a sherry or a gin and tonic and laughing a bit too easily.

It didn't seem too bad.

She realised that Eddie was still talking about the parties. She had completely missed what he had said.

"It sounds great." She said with a smile, not wanting to bother him and ask him to repeat everything again.

"Really?" He asked her, surprised. She nodded in earnest. Maybe going to the party wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**I really wanted to include the party in this chapter... but if I did it would make this chapter FAR too long. And this way it leaves you guys with suspense. Eh? Now, we all know something bad is going to happen hmmmm? ahaha, comment please and subscribe! The quicker I get reviews the quicker I can start the next chapter and post it!**

**I'm sorry for any mistakes wahh**


	6. Drunk

**AN:  I am /so/ sorry this is like months late...it took longer than I expected to do this chapter wow and this should only be half of it, so the next chapter will hopefully be done soon! Thanks for your reviews and favourites, leave comments and let me know if it's okay! ;u;**

**Chapter Six;**

**"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life," - Henry David Thoreau**

"No one told me this was a costume party." Evelyn stated loudly over the booming music. She tried not to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand as James anxiously straightened his twinkling yellow tiara.

"It's not." James grumbled, sending Peter, who was sporting a very twinkly periwinkle colour all over, a glare as the boy chatted up a blushing Hufflepuff. "_Someone_ thought it'd be a laugh."

Evelyn could see Remus in the distance at the drinks stand with the one and only Sirius Black, who was looking rather sexy in a gorgeous baby pink colour that made his hair seem even darker than it was already. His pom poms were glittery as he shook them and the tutu around his waist was haunting to look at, but she couldn't stop staring.  
>Her eyes were fixed onto him, she could hear James somewhere in the back of her mind talking to her about how self conscious he felt in the tutu, his legs weren't as long as Remus's nor as thin as Sirius's apparently... she didn't answer him, only gave him a murmur as a response and she had half a mind to ignore him and go up to Sirius Orion Black and kiss him right then and there... the feeling disappeared almost as quickly as it had came when a girl sauntered up to Sirius and sent him a smile. He smiled back and handed her a drink.<p>

She stopped when she heard her name being shouted by James; he had asked her a question and he was waiting excitedly for her answer.

She shrugged, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to hear him over the loud music, even if she asked him to repeat whatever he had said.

"Sure?" She tentatively nodded her head, this seemed like the correct answer. James grabbed onto her hand and pulled her over to the drinks stand. She searched to see if Sirius was still there but he and the girl were nowhere to be seen.

James shouted over a request to the boy serving the drinks, a small and young looking boy who was most definitely under aged, and a few seconds later handed her a small cup.

"Oh..." She took it and watched as James brought the cup to his lips, one gulp and the glass was empty.

"Never been a fan of vodka if I'm honest," He laughed, putting his cup back onto the drinks table. He looked at her expectantly. "That one is for you, you know."

She had never tried vodka, or any kind of alcohol really. One time her big brother Caleb had given her some of their parents wine when they were children, but she doubted that could count. She didn't think it would be a good idea to mention to James that she had never drank before. She didn't think it'd be good either to tell him that Lily was behind them talking to a very good looking Ravenclaw boy... so instead, to save trying to raise her voice over the loud racket of voices and music in the charmed classroom, she closed her eyes tight and jugged the cup back. Big mistake.

It was revolting! She coughed instantly and shuddered, feeling the drink sting the back of her throat and feeling the rest of it dribble down her chin made her want to cough. James laughed at her but stopped when she glared.

"Not a vodka fan then like me, eh?"

She shook her head, feeling her face growing hotter and hotter as she put the glass down next to his. He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"There's always tequilas, wkd and ciders... they're muggle alcohol stuff but they're pretty sick if you ask me... or there's fire whiskey..."

Whilst James was listing drink after drink Evelyn felt her eyes draw to Sirius once again; he was still talking to the girl, she hated to admit how pretty the brunette was, they were both laughing and she was touching the upper of his right arm as she giggled at something he said...

Suddenly James Potter was in her face, grinning. _Busted, _she thought; he had spotted her spying and was now ready to tease her about Sirius. She waited for the sly smile and the humiliation to flood her. Instead he just handed her another glass. This one was a lot smaller and had a slice of lemon on the top.

"This one is particularly nasty, if I do say so myself..." James admitted with another grin. "But it's good for when you need a bit of a boost."

She gave him a weary look. James was extremely good at drinking everything in just one gulp. He shuddered as he whacked the cup onto the table and brought the lemon to his lips.

"This is mad!" Evelyn said with a scowl, shaking her head in amazement.

"It is." He gave another shudder. "Best not to leave it too long, do it now quick." He said, motioning to her cup. He watched for a few moments as she slowly sniffed the drink, _I'm sure she'll like it, _he thought. Ready to order two more drinks, he turned around to the bar but stopped. There was Lily looking as beautiful as ever, her eyes were positively shining with happiness and her hair seemed to be glossy and just magical. He felt his heart skip a beat at her beauty, but he felt the rage and jealously surge through him as he noticed the boy smiling at her and keeping her attention.  
>Lily never seemed to enjoy his presence, and yet she was so enchanted at this guy. The guy didn't seem special, he seemed quite burly and so evidently must have been in the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. James immensely disliked him already.<p>

He felt Evelyn shuffle next to him and so quickly moved his attention back to her, relieved to see that she was still frowning at the cup.

"Do it!" He dared, hoping that she hadn't noticed his brief moment of weakness.

Ten seconds later she was there again, liquid on her chin and a fiery chill at the back of her throat. James patted her back softly, sending her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Shall we have some firewhiskey next? After another tequila actually, to get us going..."

She was going to kill James Potter. After another tequila, that was successfully drunk in one gulp this time, Evelyn was feeling rather giddy and light headed. The firewhiskey next had burnt her throat so much that the blueberry tasting wkd she had after was sweet in contrast. She and James moved from the drinks stand, it had started to get rather crowded, and she noticed how he had gotten now a full bottle of wkd stuffed inside his tutu. He was also carrying a bottle of firewhiskey that he half drained after four gulps.

"You know," She said with a giggle as she stumbled and had to hold onto his pom poms for support, "You really do suit the tutu and the tiara. S'makes you look so pretty." He put an arm around her waist as he leaned onto one of the cold stone walls.

Someone had charmed the large cassette to play a muggle band called the Beatles and now dozens of couples were dancing drunkenly and singing out the lyrics.

"Thaankks," James shook his pom poms and did a jiggle in his tutu so that the glittery material flowed around him. "I think I look the hottest of the hots... out of all us marauders, Remus doesn't suit orange very much ha! He looks like a... a... an orange!" He was finding it difficult to speak properly, but it didn't seem to bother him as he took a swig from the bottle. Evelyn didn't even give it a second thought as he passed the bottle to her, if this was five drinks before then she would have been wary of what James was handing to her, and took a very large gulp.

Next they were giggling about something unknown; she had to lean onto him for support since she was laughing too much and now he had given her one of the pom poms so they matched.

"Wanna dance?" Abba had come on, James' guilty pleasure, and he was jumping up and down. He didn't even wait for an answer as he pulled her into his arms and twirled, all the while singing in a low operatic voice that she was the dancing queen. Evelyn had to bite her lip to stop herself from howling with laughter.

They were turning and turning and turning and turning so fast that she gripped onto his hands tightly. She squealed out his name and when he did finally halt to a stop, her world was spinning and he had to hold onto her waist to stop her from falling. Their faces were close. So close that Evelyn gulped, not minding this sudden close proximity. She was so close that she could see the slight golden specks against his heavy hazel eyes. She could feel his hot breath against her neck intensify as he held onto her more tightly, worried that she might just break in front of him.

He cleared his throat and tried to calm down his heavy breathing. "Sorry," He said after a few moments, although he showed no inclination of moving away from her. "I got a bit carried away there, didn't I?"

"Just a bit, mate." Came a voice from behind them. Sirius was leaning on the wall, staring at them, cool and suave with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you guys smoke something?" He had noticed them from the other side of the room, both holding onto each other, smiling and flirting. Anyone would have seen it.

"Alcohol!" Evelyn blushed. Her head seemed giddy and it was like the walls were dancing along with the masses of students who had started to dance to christmas songs.

"You smoked alcohol?" Sirius looked confused. "How did you manage that?!"

"Nononono..." James hiccoughed, now letting go of Evelyn (Sirius inwardly cheered) and awkwardly holding both of his hands together. "We uh... we had some vodka and then we had some tequila... no wait TWO tequila or is it tequilas? And and and then wkd berryblue flavour or wait no firewhiskey.."

"It was great." Evelyn giggled and James murmured in a slightly drunken agreement. Sirius knew all too well that James was very good at holding his liquor, so for James to be tipsy it must have meant the boy had consumed rather a lot of alcohol... and it wasn't even midnight yet. He cursed under his breath and sent James a rather disgruntled glare as his best mate took hold of Evelyn's hand and told her about how cool it was like at the Potter's house during the Christmas celebrations.

James had just finished mentioning how one year his father had managed to get the gnomes to be dressed like Father Christmas, with long silvery beards that could almost be a rival against Dumbledore's, and Evelyn was 'wow'ing and 'awh'ing in astonishment and staring at him with these large eyes full of amazement. Sirius couldn't stand it, it irritated him for some reason. It irritated him how James seemed to be liked by so many people; even when the lad was intoxicated he was the epitome of suave and coolness and confidence and wit. He hated to admit it, but Sirius was burning with jealously.

"No one cares about the bloody gnomes, James." His voice was almost unrecognisable and ostentatious, he spat out the words with such envy and spite that for a second there was a glimpse of the old Sirius Black, the one who could have been if he had never met James Potter and got sorted into Gryffindor.

Evelyn raised a sharp eyebrow. "Excuse you, Sirius." She said coldly, her words slipping up as she tried to control herself. "I... swant to lirsten tooo what Jaymes haz to say. I find gnomes interesting." She crossed her arms but found it difficult to stare at the boy in the eyes; they seemed distant and sad- not angry like his voice led on.

Sirius stubbornly copied her actions and took a step closer to her. "I bet it's not _just_ the gnomes you find interesting. I saw you both from the other side of the room..."

"Sirius, don't..." James started but his attempts were ignored.

"You were acting like James was bloody prince charming. You were being so fucking obvious it's astounding that people in China don't know!" He waggled his right pompom at her angrily.

There was a brief moment of silence: Evelyn looked livid, James looked scared as he glanced between the two of his friends and Sirius stepped backwards slowly, realising that what he had just said could be deemed offensive. Or was offensive. It was definitely offensive. To both Evelyn and James.

"So what?!" Came James' delayed answer. He sighed. "It's _Christmas,_ mate. Why do you always have to act like such an arse? You ruin everything."

"I do, do I?" Evelyn watched with worry as Sirius breathed in and out deeply, his cheeks surpassing the pink colour of his pompoms. The boy was shaking and it was easy to tell that he was stressed, his voice was high and shaky.

James was hesitant. Before he could muster up any sort of reply Sirius had already stormed off towards the drink stand and grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey before going into the huge crowd. James groaned, bringing a hand to his face.

"Oh God." He turned to the wall and banged his head against it, all the while muttering to himself 'stupid stupid stupid'. Evelyn had to eventually pull him away, as with each slam he hit his head harder and harder and was now sporting a small graze on his head that had already turned a nasty purple colour.

"Don't beat yourself up about him," She said with a frown. "He deserved it. You were right..."

"No." Was all he could manage. His hands were covering the entirety of his face, she had a hard time deciphering his mumbled words.

"What?"

The students around them were buzzing with excitement as the clock struck 23:00, it was only an hour until the Christmas holiday started.

"He didn't deserve that. Look, Sirius... he... he's been going through a lot lately. And this year has been the only year for him where he's been able to stay at Hogwarts during the holidays..." He let out an angry sigh and sent her another sad smile. "He was looking forward to this so much..." He slid down off the wall and onto the floor with a _plop! _It was a clear sign that he was quite tipsy and upset. Evelyn was towering above him, he was so used to it being the other way around so he tugged at her arm gently, moving to the left a bit to give her space to sit down next to him.

He took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.

"I've never seen this side to you, James."

He let out a little giggle. "The drunk side? I'm so pissed, I'm seeing doubles of everything."

"Well there's that, yes. But it's just nice to see how much you care for Sirius."

He rolled his eyes. "He's my best friend. Of course I care. And I know you do too."

She shifted slightly, noticing suddenly how stiff the wall against her back felt. "Yeah," She tried her hardest not to blush and lowered her gaze down to her tights. She picked off a bit of grit and cleared her throat. "Well, he's a friend too. I guess. Sort of."

"I know, Evelyn." He grabbed hold of her hand. "I _know_."

"A-am I really t-that obvious?"

"Not really. I wouldn't worry about Sirius finding out... he's a bit oblivious to things like that."

She nodded her head but said nothing, there was a large lump in her throat and she was worried about how much she would croak if she spoke again.

"I uh..." James continued, "Lily told me about it. Well, we had been talking and it sorta slipped out. ...I promised I wouldn't say anything."

"That's alright, I don't think it matters much anyways."

"You're not going to tell him?" His shocked expression made her confused.

She gave him a puzzled look, followed by a chuckle. "Why the hell would I do that, James? He's better off not knowing."

"He hates it when people keep secrets from him, especially his friends. I guess I should go and find him now," He said. He held onto the wall as he heaved himself up and widened his eyes at the floor to make sure he wasn't dizzy. "Make sure he's not got himself into trouble."

"I'll help you look for him. I've never been a fan of parties."

"OK. But first..." James sent a longing look towards the drinks stand. "First I need another drink."

Evelyn agreed almost immediately, then they headed over to the drinks bar once again but this time were stopped by a blushing Lily and the smiling Ravenclaw boy.

"James! Evelyn!" She giggled, sloshing about her mulled wine as she waved. "Viktor and I were wondering if you wanted to have a drink together? And socialise? Seeing as it's the hols tomorrow and all."

James glared at this so called _Viktor_. The boy smiled and awkwardly held out his hand towards James, who shook it tentatively.

"Uuuuh. Thanks but... me and Evelyn... we need to find Sirius." He wanted to be with Lily so badly, just standing next to her made shivers run up and down his body... he wanted to stay here and push this prat Viktor away; it was obvious that he wasn't the one for her. And yet, in the back of his mind there was that low and soft voice reminding him that a friend was in need. He would make Sirius pay for this, in the friendliest way possible.

"Black?" Viktor Haynes asked, putting an arm around Lily's shoulders. James glared at the hand, wanting to just rip it and bite it. "Didn't he leave quite a while ago?"

"Oh really?" His voice was shaky. "I... we didn't see him."

"Had a bird around his neck. Bet she's going to be around his dick in no time as well." Haynes laughed, not realising that nobody else was joining. Lily continued drinking, James didn't blink and Evelyn was trying not to imagine how easy it would be to punch this guy in the face.

"Bit like you two if I'm honest." He said after he had calmed down and winked at Evelyn.

"Pardon?"

"Don't play dumb, Potter. I saw you both over in the corner. A lot of us did, we've been making bets about how long it'd take you both to leave and find a broom closet!"

"But I..." James looked shocked and shivered, sending the small girl next to him a raised eyebrow. "It wasn't like that."

Lily was being awfully quiet, sipping at her mulled wine and refusing to look anybody in the eyes. "It sorta did seem like that." She said slowly, a hint of anger being raised as she glared at her friend.

"Lily, you honestly can't think..." Evelyn started. "That me and P-Potter? No offense to him but he's... the epitome of what I _do not _want."

"It sure as hell didn't seem like that before." Venomous Lily was not something Evelyn was used to, so this cold tone shocked her.

"Come on Lily, babes." Viktor handed James a bottle of firewhiskey. "Let's let them go off to their broom closest in peace." He winked and pushed them both towards the door.

"Wanker." James muttered under his breath as they both left the party. "What the hell does Lily see in that git?"

"He is pretty fit."

He scoffed and shook his head. "Him? Trolls are better looking."

The portraits glared down at their raised voices but the two quarreled along the corridor until they got to the moving staircases. Students were scattered about, some drunk, some sober and some seemed to be just out on a stroll. The professors were being lenient since it was the day before they holidays and the prefects, who on any other day would be patrolling and docking off points left, right and centre, were enjoying the free time.

"We need to go back to the common room first." James said, pointing right at the staircase.

"That'll be the last place Sirius would be..."

Yeah I know," He pulled at her elbow to make the turn. "I err... how good are you at keeping secrets?"

"I'm pretty drunk, James," She glared at him as they stumbled down the stairs. "I doubt I'm going to blab about it whatever it is."

He nodded at her answer, his head throbbing. "The others and I... we made some sort of... well, map. It took us months, almost a year. It shows all of Hogwarts. And it shows where people are."

"A map?"

"Yup."

"How...?"

She didn't get an answer, they were both interrupted by a screaming Snape who was running in the opposite direction. He had his wand out in his hand and didn't even notice them as he ran past. All James and Evelyn did was share a look of surprise before Snape fell to the floor, being hit by a jelly muscle jinx.

Sirius entered the scene, smoke practically steaming out from his ears as he sent Snape the most hateful look. A girl was behind him, her shirt a bit rumpled and scruffy as she hastily tried to redo all the buttons.

"You're a disgusting piece of shit!" Sirius yelled, sending another hex at Snape. "How can you even - "

"Sirius?! What the hell is going on?" James ran towards them, trying to stop his friend, but arrived there a little too late and got hit by the curse Sirius was intending for Snape.

All of them watched, horrified, as James dropped to the floor and hit his head against the concrete, knocking him out. As they stared at his unconscious body they noticed that he was slowly beginning to sprout pink feathers and began growing a beak.

"Fuck." Sirius ran towards him, kneeling next to him. "FUCK!" He shouted. "What do I do?! You stupid git, why'd you have to run in at the wrong time?"

Evelyn was about to suggest going to the hospital wing, although she had no idea how easily Poppy would be able to cure the bird problem, when Regulus Black ran towards them, being chased by Peeves and Hallows, a snotty fifth year Slytherin who seemed to be the epitome of pompous-ness.

Hallows was sending hexes at Regulus and Peeves was cackling beside them, egging both the boys on. It only took Sirius a matter of seconds before he got up off the ground and stumbled towards his brother, all of them seeming to be quite drunk. Evelyn was shaking as she caught his eyes for a second, he didn't seem to be very sober as he stumbled up to them. Hallows was pushed aside by Sirius. The girl Sirius had been interested in only moments before, ran away as she tried to cover her body.

"Cooheee, students fighting in the corridors! Filch doesn't care if it's Christmas, he'll put you all in detention!" Peeves cackled above them, throwing water pellets as he did so.

"Don't touch my brother!" Sirius shouted and walked forward with his wand directed straight at Hallows.

"This is getting ridiculous! Sirius! Stop it!" Before Evelyn could get to his side, a stunning spell hit him straight in the chest. He fell onto the floor, his body limp but he seemed to be breathing and his eyes were full of... _something. _As Evelyn towered over him, asking him if he could hear her, his eyes seemed like he needed to say something.

"Why are you still here, Acres? This doesn't even involve you." A snarly voice from behind her made her jump. Regulus had been put in a body jinx by Hallows and was glaring at him.

Evelyn glanced at Sirius once more. "I don't know what the hell is going on here... but if you don't stop then I will not hesitate in getting the headmaster involved in this."

Hallows sneered at her and shook his head. He pushed past her, making her stumble, as he grabbed Sirius' robes and pulled him up.

"I'll let you walk away right now, but this is your only chance."

"What even is your problem?!" Her body was shaking, but this time it wasn't just because of the alcohol that was still in her system. For the first time of the night she realised what dangers lay right inside Hogwarts.

Sirius, who seemed to be unstunned and was now breathing heavily, let out a sigh.

"Evelyn," He said quietly, not even looking at her, "Just go okay? Go and save yourself." Sounding extremely intoxicated, he waved his hand towards the corridor and stared at her.

He looked confused when she didn't run away like he had told her to. Instead she did quite the opposite; feeling a surge of bravery flow over her (or perhaps it was the alcohol, she didn't know), she sent a rather incredible jinx at Hallows. His legs instantly gave way and he ended up with jelly legs. Snape had just woken up and was ordered to take him to the hospital, so the two jiggled out of the corridor.

Evelyn ran back to Sirius' side and gave him the counter curse. The two were silent for a moment until they remembered that James Potter was still lying unconscious with feathers all over his body.

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><p>PREVIEW:<p>

"Sirius... I love you."


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